What is the error called when two letters are mistakenly swapped?

Question

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

One's typing will need to be pretty bad... before it seems like a symptom of dyslexia. — Thursagen, Jul 05 '11 at 12:17
@Ham: IMHO this is a kind of common typing error for people which type fast with 10 fingers like programmers. — Martin Scharrer, Jul 05 '11 at 14:27
I particularly experience this kind of a problem when i am planning to type one letter with the left hand fingers and other with the right hand fingers alternatively.. And most of the times my right hand moves so fast that even before my left finger types a letter my right hand types two. — aapy, Jul 05 '11 at 16:55
I usually call it a tpyo. Of course, when typing that I accidentally entered "typo" and had to go back and uncorrect it... — Optimal Cynic, Jul 05 '11 at 18:01
@Alain Pannetier: Usually it's because of fingers landing on the keys in wrong seqence. — sharptooth, Jul 07 '11 at 11:23

score 107 · Accepted Answer · edited May 06 '13 at 10:02

107

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

edited May 06 '13 at 10:02

RegDwigнt

97,231

answered Jul 05 '11 at 12:19

T.E.D.

18,544

7

+1 seems the most precise answer to what OP is looking for, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcription_error#Transposition_Error – Unreason Jul 05 '11 at 12:25
@Unreason - Oooh. That link is way better than the one I used. I'm "borrowing" it. – T.E.D. Jul 05 '11 at 12:28
The one I always see: Micheal for Michael. – GEdgar Jul 05 '11 at 12:45
@GEdgar, how often is that in fact a misspelling rather than a typo? More often than not I'd bet; also Micheal is a not-unusual name in its own right. – funkybro Jul 05 '11 at 12:59
43

I 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. – Unreason Jul 05 '11 at 13:12
@Unreason Spelling is still important. It makes reading a lot easier :) – Philoto Jul 05 '11 at 13:21
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@Unreason: Astonishing! I really couldn't detect that I was reading that any slower than if everything had been transcibed as normal! – FumbleFingers Jul 05 '11 at 13:50
11

xp is the 'transpose' command in the text editor vi – Anguish Languish Jul 05 '11 at 14:05
5

@FumbleFingers, see http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/people/matt.davis/Cmabrigde/ (more interesting things towards the end of the article) :) – Unreason Jul 05 '11 at 14:07
@Agos: I really didn't transcibe it like that on purpose, and it took a while for me to spot the mistake even after you made it obvious there must be one! :) – FumbleFingers Jul 05 '11 at 16:48
3

@FumbleFingers funny thing: I didn't notice your typo, I just found your name very relevant to the discussion :) – Agos Jul 05 '11 at 22:28
@Agos: This is getting surreal! Stop now before the system sends us off into 'chat'! – FumbleFingers Jul 05 '11 at 22:34
Dang! - looks like this Q is going viral! If I hadn't wasted a couple of minutes nitpicking with @Colin Fine over Metathesis I could have collected my biggest ever haul of rep points for a single answer! It's up to 49 now, so I'll check back later to see if the colour changes when it hits 50... – FumbleFingers Jul 05 '11 at 22:40
2

@Anguish Languish: actually it isn't. 'xp' isn't a command, it's a sequence of two commands 'x' to remove a character and 'p' to paste whatever is in the past buffer. Whether it was a cunning plan or a happy accident that the sequence suggested an abbreviation for 'transpose', I don't know. – Colin Fine Jul 06 '11 at 13:42
2

@Unreason http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8628/is-it-true-that-only-the-positions-of-the-first-and-last-letter-in-a-word-matter – Louis Rhys Sep 13 '11 at 08:59

score 19 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 05 '11 at 11:51

19

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 05 '11 at 11:51

Colin Fine

77,173

3

Technically speaking that's the word, but I think it's very much a linguistics term. In normal parlance I just say "transposition" anyway. – FumbleFingers Jul 05 '11 at 12:00
+1 http://rhetoric.byu.edu/Figures/M/metathesis.htm – Unreason Jul 05 '11 at 12:20
...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. – FumbleFingers Jul 05 '11 at 12:47
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. – Colin Fine Jul 05 '11 at 13:04
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). – Unreason Jul 05 '11 at 13:22
@Unreason: Perhaps I overstated the case. In the end, all I wanted to say was that transposition fits OP's request better. I see @T.E.D. has now put that up and it's raced ahead on upvotes, so I think others feel as I do. – FumbleFingers Jul 05 '11 at 13:48

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 05 '11 at 11:52

4

I've seen "type twister". In German, there's a term for numbers getting twisted, "Zahlendreher" ...

answered Jul 05 '11 at 11:52

teylyn

3,265

Is there a literal translation of "Zahlendreher"? – Golden Cuy Jul 06 '11 at 23:21
@Andrew “number twister”. Although it should really be “digit twister”, i.e. “Zifferndreher” (but I’ve never seen the latter). – Konrad Rudolph Jul 07 '11 at 10:55

What is the error called when two letters are mistakenly swapped?

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