typos

[David Bowie]

From:    "Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU>

> i just wrote about the "original broadway case" -- intending "cast",
> of course.  so what kind of typo is that?

> well, it could be a finger misfire, getting E instead of T (two keys
> away).  or it could be a "completion error", in which, having typed
> CAS, i went on to complete it as the very frequent word CASE -- the
> wetware equivalent of software completion errors.  i suspect it was
> the latter, but who knows?

Speaking of completion errors: I'm teaching a course (History of the
English Language) fully online this semester, which of course involves a
lot of typing. I have discovered that it's nearly impossible for me to
write the word "linguists" without first typing "linguistics" and then
deleting the interposing "ic".

I'm just curious whether other linguists have the same problem (or
similar ones) typing stuff that should be automatic for them, given the
frequency of the terms they regularly get wrong.

<snip>

p.s. Instead of "whether other linguists" in that last sentence, i'd
originally typed "whether of linguists". Since that's not part of my
native variety, i have no idea what we'd classify that one as.

--
David Bowie                               University of Central Florida
     Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
     house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
     chocolate in the house, there is too much; it must be consumed.

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