Generally this may be called typo but when particularly two letters of a word are mistakenly swapped, what is this error called? Some examples:
teh > the
fromat > format
comptuer > computer
asked Jul 5, 2011 at 11:44
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15A symptom of dyslexia?– Alain Pannetier ΦCommented Jul 5, 2011 at 11:48
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1One's typing will need to be pretty bad... before it seems like a symptom of dyslexia.– ThursagenCommented Jul 5, 2011 at 12:17
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2Someone give this bloke's question an upvote!!!!– ThursagenCommented Jul 5, 2011 at 12:23
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4@Ham: IMHO this is a kind of common typing error for people which type fast with 10 fingers like programmers.– Martin ScharrerCommented Jul 5, 2011 at 14:27
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2I usually call it a tpyo. Of course, when typing that I accidentally entered "typo" and had to go back and uncorrect it...– Optimal CynicCommented Jul 5, 2011 at 18:01
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3 Answers
That is called a transposition error, and is very common for reasonably speedy touch-typists. The text editor Emacs even has a basic control chord (Ctrl+T) to swap (transpose) the preceding two characters.
From Wikipedia's transcription error page:
Transposition errors are commonly mistaken for transcription errors, but they should not be confused. As the name suggest, transposition errors occur when characters have “transposed” — that is, they have switched places. Transposition errors are almost always human in origin. The most common way for characters to be transposed is when a user is touch typing at a speed that makes them input one character, before the other. This may be caused by their brain being one step ahead of their body.
Examples of Transposition Error
Input : Gergory Instead of : Gregory
Input : 23rd of Auguts Instead of : 23rd of August
Input : Johsua Instead of : Joshua
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7+1 seems the most precise answer to what OP is looking for, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcription_error#Transposition_Error– UnreasonCommented Jul 5, 2011 at 12:25
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43I cnduo't bvleiee taht I culod aulaclty uesdtannrd waht I was rdnaieg. Unisg the icndeblire pweor of the hmuan mnid, aocdcrnig to rseecrah at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mttaer in waht oderr the lterets in a wrod are, the olny irpoamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rhgit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whoutit a pboerlm. Tihs is bucseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey ltteer by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Aaznmig, huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghhuot slelinpg was ipmorantt! See if yuor fdreins can raed tihs too.– UnreasonCommented Jul 5, 2011 at 13:12
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5@Unreason: Astonishing! I really couldn't detect that I was reading that any slower than if everything had been transcibed as normal! Commented Jul 5, 2011 at 13:50
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xpis the 'transpose' command in the text editor vi Commented Jul 5, 2011 at 14:05 -
5@FumbleFingers, see mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/people/matt.davis/Cmabrigde (more interesting things towards the end of the article) :)– UnreasonCommented Jul 5, 2011 at 14:07
Metathesis.
This word is most often used of swapping sounds, but the OED defines it as "The transposition of sounds or letters in a word, or (occas.) of whole words or syllables; the result of such a transposition".
answered Jul 5, 2011 at 11:51
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3Technically speaking that's the word, but I think it's very much a linguistics term. In normal parlance I just say "transposition" anyway. Commented Jul 5, 2011 at 12:00
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...added to which metathesis is generally understood to produce a recognised/recognisable result. So I would say pwn, for example, could be thus described. But I'm not so keen on calling OP's comptuer an example of metathesis. Commented Jul 5, 2011 at 12:47
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2@FimbleFingers: good point about the restricted field. But don't understand the relevance of "pwn". Most linguistic use of "metathesis" is about language change, so the "recognised result" is rather moot. Commented Jul 5, 2011 at 13:04
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1@FumbleFingers, I don't think the result must be an existing word, quote: 'Metathesis is responsible for the most common types of speech errors, such as children acquiring spaghetti as pasketti.' (wikipedia). I think you are misled by the fact that it usually does (as it is most effective as literary or rhetorical device when it does end up with recognizable result; however it does not prove nor imply that it must be so).– UnreasonCommented Jul 5, 2011 at 13:22
I've seen "type twister". In German, there's a term for numbers getting twisted, "Zahlendreher" ...
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@Andrew “number twister”. Although it should really be “digit twister”, i.e. “Zifferndreher” (but I’ve never seen the latter). Commented Jul 7, 2011 at 10:55