[OT] 'the the' in mails ...

[OT] 'the the' in mails ...

[Herbert Pötzl]

Please, could one of the native english
speaker enlighten me about 'the the' ...

I know this is absolutely off topic, but
about 30 threads, in the last two months,
on lkml contain this strange construct, 
and I'm worried that I miss something very
important ...

or is this just such a common typo? if so
please tell me, and I will simply ignore it 
from now on ...

TIA,
Herbert

Re: [OT] 'the the' in mails ...

[Dave Jones]

On Tue, Aug 19, 2003 at 03:24:11AM +0200, Herbert P?tzl wrote:
 > Please, could one of the native english
 > speaker enlighten me about 'the the' ...
 > I know this is absolutely off topic, but
 > about 30 threads, in the last two months,
 > on lkml contain this strange construct, 
 > and I'm worried that I miss something very
 > important ...
 > 
 > or is this just such a common typo? if so
 > please tell me, and I will simply ignore it 
 > from now on ...

It's a moderately common typo, particularly common at end of line wraps.
It turns up quite often for reasons I can't explain.
There's likely some deep seated psychological reason
why people selectively blank one of the "the"'s out.

		Dave

-- 
 Dave Jones     http://www.codemonkey.org.uk

Re: [OT] 'the the' in mails ...

[Kurt Wall]

Quoth Herbert Pötzl:
> 
> Please, could one of the native english
> speaker enlighten me about 'the the' ...
> 
> I know this is absolutely off topic, but
> about 30 threads, in the last two months,
> on lkml contain this strange construct, 
> and I'm worried that I miss something very
> important ...
> 
> or is this just such a common typo? if so
> please tell me, and I will simply ignore it 
> from now on ...

Common typo.

Kurt
-- 
God made the integers; all else is the work of Man.
		-- Kronecker

Re: [OT] 'the the' in mails ...

[Randy.Dunlap]

>
> Please, could one of the native english
> speaker enlighten me about 'the the' ...
>
> I know this is absolutely off topic, but
> about 30 threads, in the last two months,
> on lkml contain this strange construct,
> and I'm worried that I miss something very
> important ...
>
> or is this just such a common typo? if so
> please tell me, and I will simply ignore it
> from now on ...

Sounds like a BF to me (brain fart).

~Randy

Re: [OT] 'the the' in mails ...

[Alan Cox]

On Maw, 2003-08-19 at 02:24, Herbert Pötzl wrote:
> I know this is absolutely off topic, but
> about 30 threads, in the last two months,
> on lkml contain this strange construct, 
> and I'm worried that I miss something very
> important ...

Its a very common typo, especially at the end of a line.

Re: [OT] 'the the' in mails ...

[Jonathan Lundell]

At 2:32pm +0100 8/19/03, Alan Cox wrote:
>On Maw, 2003-08-19 at 02:24, Herbert Pötzl wrote:
>>  I know this is absolutely off topic, but
>>  about 30 threads, in the last two months,
>>  on lkml contain this strange construct,
>>  and I'm worried that I miss something very
>>  important ...
>
>Its a very common typo, especially at the end of a line.

...where for some reason it tends to be invisible.

A quick scan of some list messages suggests that 
it's also a fairly common typo for "to the", 
"that the", and the like. A case of the brain 
running on ahead of the fingers, I suppose.
-- 
/Jonathan Lundell.

Re: [OT] 'the the' in mails ...

[Valdis.Kletnieks]

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On Tue, 19 Aug 2003 09:10:12 PDT, Jonathan Lundell <linux@lundell-bros.com>  said:
> At 2:32pm +0100 8/19/03, Alan Cox wrote:
> >On Maw, 2003-08-19 at 02:24, Herbert Pötzl wrote:
> >>  I know this is absolutely off topic, but
> >>  about 30 threads, in the last two months,
> >>  on lkml contain this strange construct,
> >>  and I'm worried that I miss something very
> >>  important ...
> >
> >Its a very common typo, especially at the end of a line.
> 
> ...where for some reason it tends to be invisible.

Darn, my reply to this to Dave didn't go to the list, soo...

The field of "cognitive perception" deals with issues like this..

http://www.geocities.com/woras.geo/TASK.htm

http://ibs.derby.ac.uk/~kpat/Israel_cognitive/introduction.shtml

Basically, the average human mind is *very* good at discarding/altering
input that "doesn't make sense", and preconceived notions will over-ride what
you actually see.  This is why good proofreaders are so hard to find - most
of us will simply ignore that second "the" because it doesn't parse.


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Re: [OT] 'the the' in mails ...

[Herbert Pötzl]

well, thanks to all for the the information ,)
no, honestly I appreciate it ...

I already started to train my mind to eliminate
and/or correct this common mistake, and if I'll
fail, I can always remember the very insightful
details of cognitive science ... and smile.

thanks again,
Herbert

Re: [OT] 'the the' in mails ...

[John Bradford]

> Basically, the average human mind is *very* good at discarding/altering
> input that "doesn't make sense"

Well that's pretty much a requirement for reading LKML these days ;-).

John.