Things that come by email

How did we survive without some of the things that come by email? Perhaps, previously, they would never have existed. Here's the latest example, some correspondence between two friends on which I was copied.

This is weird, but interesting!

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it.

And the response:

It even works in our friend's new tongue, Icelandic:

Svmkmaæt rnsanókn vi? Cmabrigde hkóásla ?á stkpiir ekki mlái í h?vaa rö? stfiar í o?ri eru, ?a? enia sem stikipr mlái er a? frtsyi og stías?i stinaurfn séu á rtéutm sat?. Aillr hniir sfitarnir gtea vire? í aöljrgu rlgui en ?ú gtuer smat lsei? ?a? a?vuledlgea. Áæ?satn fiyrr ?sesu er a? mnnashgrniuun les ekki hevrn satf friyr sig hleudr oir?? sem hiled.

And the explanation:

Here's a link to the science, dating back several years. Whew, close call. I almost did a spell check on this posting!