Spelling when typing

[gola]

Does anyone know what sort of typing mistakes Terry Pratchett (and/or others suffering from some form of dementia) make? Or does he just have difficulty finding the right key when typing? I'm a good typist but have found that in recent months I have started making a regular type of mistake; the letters I type are sometimes the correct ones but they are typed in the wrong order, e.g. "to" becomes "ot" and "the" becomes "teh" (as if I were dyslexic?). Is this a sympton of some impending dementia I wonder? (Yes, I'm 68, and my short term-memory has become atrocious in recent years! )

[Tonyblack]

Hi gola and welcome.

It's difficult to say. As I understood it he was occasionally gets times when he writes the same thing over or can't remember how to spell words that he'd normally have no trouble with.

I heard that he's got some sort of voice recognition software now that allows him to basically dictate his writing. Not sure where I heard that or quite how it works though.

In the past, at events, he's sat in a corner busily tapping away on a laptop.

[mspanners]

I have always had problems with spelling due to a Head injury I picked up as a 7 Year old child (Got mowed down by a hit and run driver) but I use a small program called tinySpell, it helps a lot.
There is a free version and a pro version available on the net so try a google search. It works in the background and brings up a box when you mistype a word with suggestions for correction, doesn`t check if the sentence makes sense though.... hope this helps.

[Tonyblack]

Does anyone know what sort of typing mistakes Terry Pratchett (and/or others suffering from some form of dementia) make? Or does he just have difficulty finding the right key when typing? I'm a good typist but have found that in recent months I have started making a regular type of mistake; the letters I type are sometimes the correct ones but they are typed in the wrong order, e.g. "to" becomes "ot" and "the" becomes "teh" (as if I were dyslexic?). Is this a sympton of some impending dementia I wonder? (Yes, I'm 68, and my short term-memory has become atrocious in recent years! )

I find that I'm typing 'teh' and 'taht' and find it really frustrating. I doubt if it's anything serious though - probably just trying to type too quickly.

[Tiffany]

Hi Gola, welcome to the forum. I do that frequently as well, but then I never learnt to type properly

[Dotsie]

Hi Gola. I know that typing "teh" instead of "the" is very common, which is why word autocorrects it. I do it all the time. So if you've only just started doing this, I wouldn't worry!

[cols]

Hi Gola and welcome to the forum
I think typing errors are very common especially if you type alot in particular writing letters in the wrong sequence as your hands are trying to keep up with your brain.
I find that when I change form my PC to another I make a lot of these mistakes as the keyboard may be either slightly bigger or smaller.

I know the documentary may have rose concerns in people as we can relate to some of the difficulties Terry is having with spelling, looking for keys etc...
I waste at least a cumulative hour each day hunting my keys( 20 minutes this morning before I remembered I'd started the car to get it warmed up and obviously they were in it as it was still running! )I wasted another 5 minutes looking for the phone which was in my pocket and I've been known to go looking for my glasses when they're actually on my face
I've recently become a nightmare with short term stuff , but I think this can be from trying to multi task too much( I hope)

[DivingBudgie]

This is incredibly common as you get used to typing certain words (okay I just did that one as wrods) you don't acutally think as you type and therefore you tend to not keep track of what your fingers are doing.

I often type from or form when I mean the other one and had to get the auto correct to recognise tot he as to the.

Nothing wrong with you unless you have recently been dealt some sort of blow to the ole scone.

[Straw Walker]

I'll just confirm what everyone else has said. I'm a two finger typist and not particularly fast but I have to read everything at least twice before posting or it becomes gobbedegook.
I'm srue you hvae all seen the mial aoubt rdenaig wehre you olny need the frist and lsat lteters to be crrocet for it to be udnreostod.

[Jan Van Quirm]

Yup - I do typos all the time and regularly do teh and ot; if for is and vice versa and often put or instead of do (and the other way)...

I'm a hack touch typist in that I don't have to look at the keyboard when I'm not conscious of it and 'know' where all the keys are, but because of all the miss-keying I do look at the keyboard quite a lot - and atm the keybord's getting worn and the E-Y-U-I-O-P-A-S-H-L-N-M & the space bar are all losing their outlines - which doesn't help of course.

When I was still working (in a forms unit) I was forever typing FROM for FORM and then I noticed I'd started typing FORM instead of FROM . Think it is because you're thinking too fast and the hands can't keep up as Cols was saying Also with Terry and his 6 screens - I would think most people's brains would fuse no matter how young and sharp they were, so I can see how he'd have noticed his typing slipping pretty quickly...

[chris.ph]

ive got big fingers so i tend to hiy ywo keys at a time

[Tonyblack]

Another one I always do is 'think' instead of 'thing' and vice versa.

Blimey gola - you are far from alone it would seem.

[gola]

Yes you are right Tony, many people make mistakes including myself. But as I said I am (or have been ! ) a very good typist and the type of typos I mentioned have only been noticeable for the last few months, hence my concern. I have also been doing various silly things apart from when I'm using my pc, so I have decided to mention them to the doctor the next time I visit the surgery in a fortnight. Many thanks to everyone who responded to my post.

[Tonyblack]

Yes you are right Tony, many people make mistakes including myself. But as I said I am (or have been ! ) a very good typist and the type of typos I mentioned have only been noticeable for the last few months, hence my concern. I have also been doing various silly things apart from when I'm using my pc, so I have decided to mention them to the doctor the next time I visit the surgery in a fortnight. Many thanks to everyone who responded to my post.

I think that's very wise of you - if only to put your mind at rest. Let us know how you get on please.

[gola]

Yes Tony, that's what I've been thinking. And I shall certainly post another note on here when I get the results of any tests that may have to be done (but it may be a few weeks hence I suspect).