I read recently that a person only needs to see the first and last letters of a word in order to know what they are reading. That fascinated me, and I sought out many examples of this online. Do you know what? They were right! I could read every example that I came across. 

Then, I wondered if the same thing held for sentences.  After much testing, I found that the principle did, in fact, work for sentences. 

See for yourself:

Cfresd ft Jed he jdh duh who eiruving the affiedankf fees act do old fnakf shafe. Aa jehxofnre odifuen eir modi ahjeirn egos firm side S ow let smacks diehard the flask eopekcisj speaks, Muskie eifhcns wofkj be Kate to the Rejdjfiuhan aptrjrkch eo fjrhskfhdj roa thri coshfjriwefusl lkedkgiafjrn. 

Afgkdj u kfhd djsh, Fleksicnd duke fidnale ridjh tha pdlekfit na ths eproaivblicn viv Ai diwprmgie ofjhekace dfkg epqoale he enj skejthxia belfktr. Satkmdi nekc nod thd EGE lwwk akv irakbeemant. 

Aalfkdngk eo labhtuhrj chute tir the oak Otjriehne Fekasj Flema, Aldo if w fksnificalp odduciane. “Not, l cnd’t gjhdfk hjal hql thip makle kr difl,” fading key formal Uekdlfj. “I’e spekvhmtm, but D’ll emaldk fjdk flw emsk fhdlk. Lfkdjcagfj ke g cvneuy domdlkekfhak icon, find gkrmn oei kd sinfle fkdloshfgke.” 

Tklf jsnfkajvhejw ns fish SAW he Kruger cod bet sk neiotuhgaklf I’d Oamflkejdrh who fina tjwlkdemdlsm eiuasnalfkej ki that kkje. Tkjd jfb 20 jsnjdhge Fmejshcin skid jgfhe hbenmahtnalk bend hulk of my KVK, goal NFL 120 lakfndj Fkdmekcns fed all kdrhig fjd ha, fed snn kn fndjsh jf hencvjg ak fjdk dn vjrispalqkajc enaiheowncidmjasnm bejchdo of bet and jay he ghejendmd.

Isn’t that incredible? The human brain needs very few cues in order to extract meaning from the most random-seeming text!

Until next time,

Anne Stallings, for Novel Premise.