We rely on our computer’s spell-checker. We write in a hurry. We don’t consult a dictionary. We focus on meaning rather than form. We can’t be bothered to check our spelling. These are some of the possible answers to the question “Why do we make typos?”
Another culprit is the human brain: We’re not motivated enough to not make typos, because we read words, not letters. If there are mistakes in a text, such as a few missing letters, our brain fills in the gaps. In essence, to our brain, misspellings don’t count—we’re still able to read a text despite it having misprints.
Try to read this:
Proofreaders are tranied to raed wodrs leettr by leettr to ctach msllniepgiss.
How did you do?
You probably understood it was supposed to mean
Proofreaders are trained to read words letter by letter to catch misspellings.
Even if our brain can fill in the gaps, this is pointless work for it. So, when we read a text full of typographical errors, our brain ends up rebelling about the useless work it needs to do. We get annoyed or frustrated, or we lose interest in what we’re reading.
As well as making typos, we tend to miss our own misspellings. That’s because when we write something, we’re more concerned about communicating an idea than choosing the right spelling. As Tom Stafford from University of Sheffield, cited by Reader’s Digest Australia, said, “Our own typos are hard to spot because we know what we meant to write, and so this gets in the way of seeing what we actually did write”.
Regardless of why we make typos, in most cases we don’t need to let others see them. We can proofread the texts we intend to publish or have someone proofread them for us.
Do you need to hire a professional proofreader? Send me a message at editor@languageediting.com.
Related posts:
- Why your grammar checker can’t make documents perfect
- What free proofreading tool do I recommend?
- How much does proofreading cost?
Last revised on 28 September 2022
