Here’s a simple test for you. All you have to do is count the "F"s in the text below. Remember, count each and every “F”. Ready?
FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE-
SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIF-
IC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE
EXPERIENCE OF YEARS…
So how many did you find?
Did you say three? Most people do. Go back and try again.
The answer is SIX. Most people can’t process the word “OF” when counting the Fs. So there are:
F in FINISHED
F in FILES
F in SCIENTIFIC
F in three instances of OF
Yup, I failed.
I’ll live.
I failed. But I find these mental hiccups fascinating, so I’m not disappointed. I think these things are kinds neat.
It’s amazing that I really thought I looked carefully, a couple/three times, but still missed what looks like an incredibly easy question.
Hey, I got it right. Now there’s a first! 
I got all six, but then I’m an experienced copyeditor.
I got all six, but I’d seen this before so I knew what to look for.
I got it, but I do a lot of proofreading for my office, and so I’m used to divorcing meaning and sound from spelling and punctuation.
Daniel
Six, but I’ve seen this type of thing before.
You guys are amazing. Every single person in my house got 3. It took my mother ten minutes and a pencil to get all six.
I counted six.
I’m curious though, what do the inished iles consist o, and what is the scientiic study? The test ails to mention this act.
I got six.
But then, I’m used to deciphering undergraduates’ handwriting (is that an s or an f? Either way, what on earth is that word?) so I think that helped.
I got six, but only because I used the search feature in my browser. Man – the tool user.
I got all six, but that’s because I went through the words backwards. I’ve found that’s the best way to spellcheck your writing (if you’re short a spellchecker, that is).
I got six, but I recall seeing this in an email several years ago.
5
Yep, 5. Sort of lost interest there toward the end, I guess
Another copyeditor who didn’t even bother to count – just said the answer. This thing is so old it has whiskers on it.
Somehow, I managed to get 4. I missed the first two "of"s, but got the second one. :rolleyes:
I got it right, by cheating. Pasted into an editor and did a global replace with something unmissable. I guessed It’d be a variation on the old ‘Paris in the the spring’ thingy. It’s probably tricky because of is not phonetic -you don’t hear the f. As a kid I once forgot how to spell of and wrote a whole essay using ov which I knew was wrong but I couldn’t find my way to of.
Six, but I’ve seen it before and knew to count 'of’s.
I got 6.
… and I’m not any type of copy editor or proofreader. I’ve never seen this one before, and I didn’t even read backwords through it.