# Is there a name for persistent typos? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 22, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-persistent-typos/453810 "2008-06-22T17:52:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-persistent-typos/453810/1 "2008-06-22T17:52:01Z")
I constantly transpose n and g when I type, so for instance “nothing” comes out “nothign.” I have another one that slips my mind at the moment but that ng-gn one really annoys me. Is there a name for consistently making the same typo? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2008, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-persistent-typos/453810/2 "2008-06-22T18:03:09Z")
Perhaps, “WhatExititis”? I did a cursory Google and wiki & the Urban Dictionary search, to confirm that no word or phrase works better than “persistent typos” The other choice would be a _selective dyslexia in writing_. Or you could go with “What Exititis”. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2008, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-persistent-typos/453810/3 "2008-06-22T18:28:18Z")
Hey, I identified the syndrome, I get to name it! I’m thinking Malottosis. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2008, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-persistent-typos/453810/4 "2008-06-22T18:34:46Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] Hey, I identified the syndrome, I get to name it! I’m thinking Malottosis. [/QUOTE] It’s yours if you want it. I was willing to sacrifice as one of the worse offenders on the board. I cannot type words like ‘file’ without thinking about it. 9 out of 10 times it ends up as ‘fiel’. I also toss in random caps without thinking as it is a programming habit for RPG & Cobol to make things stand out as no other options were available. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2008, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-persistent-typos/453810/5 "2008-06-22T19:14:41Z")
I had/have a similar problem that I first noticed when I was writing longhand, and which somehow carried over to my typing. If a word ended with a “d” or a “g”, I would invert the stem and get the other letter. I’d get sentences like, “Go stang over there” or “Hand the picture on the East wall”. I’d almost always catch the mistake immediately, so much of my old handwritten stuff if marred by d’s and g’s with the stems scribbled over and replaced with the proper ascender or descender, as appropriate. I’m not sure how this managed to carry over to my typing, but fortunately I can now correct the mistake without a trace when typing on a computer. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2008, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-persistent-typos/453810/6 "2008-06-22T20:22:01Z")
“Teh” being such a common example, I propose _tehposition_ or _dystehxia_. ---
**Author:** ![mwbrooks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@mwbrooks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mwbrooks)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-persistent-typos/453810/7 "2008-06-23T00:56:06Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] I constantly transpose n and g when I type, so for instance “nothing” comes out “nothign.” I have another one that slips my mind at the moment but that ng-gn one really annoys me. Is there a name for consistently making the same typo? [/QUOTE] As I recall, _Typewriting Behavior_ (Dvorak et al., 1936) calls recurring typing errors “demons.” Each keyboard layout has a set of demons that tend to turn up quite often. Other demons might be more personal. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-persistent-typos/453810/8 "2008-06-23T01:10:57Z")
I frequently type _form_ when I’m meaning _from_ and the bitch is, spell checkers don’t catch it. It is so bad, I do a word search of form to make sure that’s that I really meant. The reverse not so much, possibly because ‘form’ comes up much less often. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-persistent-typos/453810/9 "2008-06-23T02:17:48Z")
You want insane typos - I’ll write or type a correctly spelled word, but it’s the wrong word. Something like ‘compliantly’ for ‘correctly’. It drives me nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-persistent-typos/453810/10 "2008-06-23T04:17:55Z")
“teh” is my personal favorite. “policy” for “police” is an occupational hazard (insurance adjuster) I believe it has less to do with unintentionally typing the wrong word than it does with fingers moving faster than the brain. I blame the phenomonen on my blazing keyboarding skills… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Herbys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/977dab/32.png) [@Herbys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Herbys)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2017, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-persistent-typos/453810/11 "2017-06-02T02:21:31Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > I constantly transpose n and g when I type, so for instance “nothing” comes out “nothign.” I have another one that slips my mind at the moment but that ng-gn one really annoys me. Is there a name for consistently making the same typo? I have exactly the same problem with ng and gn. I think it happens due to the change in hand between these two letters, and there must be some timing issue between the signals to the two hands. For me it doesn’t happen for any pair of letters that’s handled by the same hand, and it doesn’t happen when I type one-handed. So yes, I think I have Malottosis. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2017, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-persistent-typos/453810/12 "2017-06-02T02:27:11Z")
Oh look, another zobmie therad. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2017, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-persistent-typos/453810/13 "2017-06-02T02:36:13Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > I frequently type _form_ when I’m meaning _from_ and the bitch is, spell checkers don’t catch it. It is so bad, I do a word search of form to make sure that’s that I really meant. > > The reverse not so much, possibly because ‘form’ comes up much less often. I’ve actually removed “form” from my spellcheck dictionary because I so seldom use tht word that when it appears it’s more commonly a typo for “from”. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2017, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-persistent-typos/453810/14 "2017-06-02T04:48:56Z")
I am not sure they will call this an affliction, its probably more to do with the left right split in the brain. Maybe if you were very bad they would have a name for the affliction. - eg If you had a frontal lobotomy ? One effect is that to actually develop expertise in typing, you actually have parts of the brain become dedicated to the task, and learn how to do it. So you might be finding that you assess your skill as higher than the weakest … you are going faster than your skill - but its selective skills, eg timing the change between left and right fingers, that is the problem. Its really that you haven’t fully learnt touch typing rather than any affliction. With dislexia, you get it wrong no matter what communication technique … (talk, writing, typing, blocks, pointing ) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2017, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-persistent-typos/453810/15 "2017-06-02T05:32:28Z")
Good question. I don’t no the answer.