Debunking the "weird word" jumbled letters myth

[BVB]

Re http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=64017 , the Snopes.com urban myth-busters have tried to verify the rumor. So far, no proof that it originated in a study at Cambridge:

http://www.snopes.com/language/apocryph/cambridge.asp

"Origins: This little bit of intriguing linguistic trivia stormed through inboxes in September 2003. That the order of letters within words is relatively unimportant to reading comprehension as long as the first and last letters are in their proper places seems to be self-evident, as demonstrated by the ability of nearly everyone who came across this item to understand what it said (although this is a very general application — results may vary when different types of words and contexts are used), but was there really a university study to this effect?

"This item isn't known to have been prompted by a recent study at Cambridge University (or anywhere else). Its originator is still anonymous, but the Languagehat web site appears to have been the one that popularized it, and Uncle Jazzbeau's Gallimaufrey has some insight into the background of the concept. An ongoing discussion of this subject can be found on Slashdot."

((additional hyperlinks available within original Snopes.com text))

 

[Crothian]

Feruigs

I mean figures

 

[d4]

well that's all right. the origin of the idea isn't nearly as important as the idea itself, IMO.

i found the previous ENWorld thread on this topic quite fascinating and entertaining.

 

[mythusmage]

It seemed rather silly to me.

I've run across a few blog entries regarding the subject. One had deliberately misspelled words, with the first and last letters in their proper places. Thing is, I had to puzzle out the words, instead of having no problem with them.

Then again, I'm dyslexic. A form of dyslexia that just about made it impossible to learn to read using the 'whole word' method so many prefer. So I had to learn to read using phonetics. The letters aint in the right order I have problems.