David Harris reports:

Aoccdrnig to rsereach at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteres are in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

This is an ieeinnrsttg idea, aghlotuh I’m not abellostuy cceinnovd. I wonder where they got the idea.

Thanks to Kai von Fintel for the link and Kent Bach for one of the jokes.

(PS: Apparently back in the early days of generative semantics, James McCawley’s students would happily identify themselves with institutions such as the South Hanoi Institute of Technology, even wearing prominently emblazoned acronomical sweatshirts of said institution. But they drew the line at the Free University of Central Quebec. Today’s youngsters draw no such distinctions.)