5 ms·

Ask HN: Does anyone else press keys in wrong order for certain words everytime?

19 points by rahulskn86 7y ago

For me, whenever I need to type `length`, I would always type `lenght` first and then correct it. Is there a way to get rid of this annoying habit?

bloodorange 7y ago
Practice typing. There is no other way. You just have an issue with accuracy and need to fix it. In the case you mentioned, if you note, it's a case of the right hand hitting 'h' before the left is done hitting the t. Just practice typing for a bit everyday and these kind of errors will go away.
allears 7y ago
Does anyone else run two words together to make one word even though it's wrong, everytime?
oblib 7y ago
I tend to spell the word I'm wanting to type wrong the same a lot. For example, I'll type "that" when I want to type "than". It's an annoying habit.
rgoulter 7y ago
One suggestion: rather than just retyping the 'th', retype the whole word 'length'. Steve Yegge's advice for learning 'licks' was "go fast; go slow; go target pace". https://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/09/programmings-dirtiest-little-secret.html https://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/09/programmings-dirtie...
mxyzpt1k 7y ago
alias gerp=grep For just that reason
Storm_Dulin 7y ago
I've noticed this a lot at my work and have narrowed down several common letter swaps to my system prioritizing one letter going first when both keys are hit at the same time. The one I run into most often is r coming before o when both are hit but it also happens with i before e or, in the instance you have noticed, g before h.
walkersutton 7y ago
https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/sl https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/sl whenever you mistype ‘ls’ as ‘sl’, you can have a steam locomotive run across your terminal with the above installed
zzo38computer 7y ago
Not always, I think. But maybe there are some where it is common to me, although I do not remember, so I don't know.
happyrock 7y ago
I type `git pupll` an awful lot. No idea why.
combatentropy 7y ago
I had always thought I do this because some other word that I type a lot has the letters in that order. For example, you say you keep typing lenght. Well, once you fix that, will you start typing ligth instead of light? (Or any of the many words that are ght. It's a common combination in English.)
- rococode 7y ago
  Wow, that's an interesting hypothesis! I just pulled up a random wordlist on GitHub (370k words) [1]. Searching it in a text editor, "ght" appears 1621 times and "gth" only appears 77 times! So perhaps habitual mistakes like these really are caused by the higher frequency of a different ordering of the same letters. [1] https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dwyl/english-words/master/words_alpha.txt https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dwyl/english-words/master/...
sapientiae3 7y ago
I’m convinced this is a result of typing on a keyboard - it seldom happens when I’m writing. I think that after a typing for a while, your brain tries to introduce some optimization, i.e. while your one finger goes for the letter ‘t’ (my left hand), your brain queues up the letter ‘h’ for another finger on your other hand. Quite often, and possibly because I’m right hand dominant, the hand going for the letter ‘h’ gets there first. It usually happens with the same pairs of letters. It would not surprise me if keyboards have introduced whole new kinds of dyslexia. I have noticed this has crept into my writing occasionally - if I have been typing a lot - usually with the same pairs of letters. I will write the second one first, and then go back and insert the first one.
quickthrower2 7y ago
I still type badly after years of practice and trying to touch type. I just hit wrong keys quite often! I’ve quit caring.
jitendrac 7y ago
yes,I frequently make typo while typing word ending with -re,to -er. I know the spelling. Still I make those errors and then correct those errors immediately.
buboard 7y ago
a good , fluid mechanical keyboard makes one more accurate. anything deviating from perfection will introduce errors though.
mike-cardwell 7y ago
I type "grpe" instead of "grep" all the time.
mcswell 7y ago
"langauge". And I'm a linguist, so I type this word a lot...
slipwalker 7y ago
yes, gti instead git... i even kept an alias gti=git for a week, before turning into alias g=git

19 points by rahulskn86 7y ago

For me, whenever I need to type `length`, I would always type `lenght` first and then correct it. Is there a way to get rid of this annoying habit?

bloodorange 7y ago

Practice typing. There is no other way. You just have an issue with accuracy and need to fix it. In the case you mentioned, if you note, it's a case of the right hand hitting 'h' before the left is done hitting the t. Just practice typing for a bit everyday and these kind of errors will go away.

allears 7y ago

Does anyone else run two words together to make one word even though it's wrong, everytime?

oblib 7y ago

I tend to spell the word I'm wanting to type wrong the same a lot. For example, I'll type "that" when I want to type "than". It's an annoying habit.

rgoulter 7y ago

One suggestion: rather than just retyping the 'th', retype the whole word 'length'. Steve Yegge's advice for learning 'licks' was "go fast; go slow; go target pace". https://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/09/programmings-dirtiest-little-secret.html https://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/09/programmings-dirtie...

mxyzpt1k 7y ago

alias gerp=grep For just that reason

Storm_Dulin 7y ago

I've noticed this a lot at my work and have narrowed down several common letter swaps to my system prioritizing one letter going first when both keys are hit at the same time. The one I run into most often is r coming before o when both are hit but it also happens with i before e or, in the instance you have noticed, g before h.

walkersutton 7y ago

https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/sl https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/sl whenever you mistype ‘ls’ as ‘sl’, you can have a steam locomotive run across your terminal with the above installed

zzo38computer 7y ago

Not always, I think. But maybe there are some where it is common to me, although I do not remember, so I don't know.

happyrock 7y ago

I type `git pupll` an awful lot. No idea why.

combatentropy 7y ago

I had always thought I do this because some other word that I type a lot has the letters in that order. For example, you say you keep typing lenght. Well, once you fix that, will you start typing ligth instead of light? (Or any of the many words that are ght. It's a common combination in English.)

rococode 7y ago
Wow, that's an interesting hypothesis! I just pulled up a random wordlist on GitHub (370k words) [1]. Searching it in a text editor, "ght" appears 1621 times and "gth" only appears 77 times! So perhaps habitual mistakes like these really are caused by the higher frequency of a different ordering of the same letters. [1] https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dwyl/english-words/master/words_alpha.txt https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dwyl/english-words/master/...

sapientiae3 7y ago

I’m convinced this is a result of typing on a keyboard - it seldom happens when I’m writing. I think that after a typing for a while, your brain tries to introduce some optimization, i.e. while your one finger goes for the letter ‘t’ (my left hand), your brain queues up the letter ‘h’ for another finger on your other hand. Quite often, and possibly because I’m right hand dominant, the hand going for the letter ‘h’ gets there first. It usually happens with the same pairs of letters. It would not surprise me if keyboards have introduced whole new kinds of dyslexia. I have noticed this has crept into my writing occasionally - if I have been typing a lot - usually with the same pairs of letters. I will write the second one first, and then go back and insert the first one.

quickthrower2 7y ago

I still type badly after years of practice and trying to touch type. I just hit wrong keys quite often! I’ve quit caring.

jitendrac 7y ago

yes,I frequently make typo while typing word ending with -re,to -er. I know the spelling. Still I make those errors and then correct those errors immediately.

buboard 7y ago

a good , fluid mechanical keyboard makes one more accurate. anything deviating from perfection will introduce errors though.

mike-cardwell 7y ago

I type "grpe" instead of "grep" all the time.

mcswell 7y ago

"langauge". And I'm a linguist, so I type this word a lot...

slipwalker 7y ago

yes, gti instead git... i even kept an alias gti=git for a week, before turning into alias g=git