# Sometimes my brain doesn't brain quite right **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 5, 2025, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-my-brain-doesnt-brain-quite-right/1021727 "2025-08-05T16:14:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-my-brain-doesnt-brain-quite-right/1021727/1 "2025-08-05T16:14:18Z")
When I see words that are jammed together without proper spacing - as you might see in URLs, for instance - I will frequently insert the spacing in the wrong places. For instance, there’s a website urging people to get outside and enjoy using recreational vehicles. When I see the URL, I think “gorving? WTF is gorving?” (Go RV-ing (dot)com). Same for the US Army’s recruiting website: Goar my and not Go Army. I even do this with online nicks. I will frequently read @puzzlegal as “puzz legal”. Anybody else have this problem? ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-my-brain-doesnt-brain-quite-right/1021727/2 "2025-08-05T16:20:14Z")
I don’t think it’s a problem with your brain, it’s a pretty common thing with words that have been smooshed together, as in a URL. A couple funny examples from the early days of the internet-- a website called Experts Exchange realized far too late that they should have added a hyphen to ‘expertsexchange [dot] com’. And an Italian company called Powergen Italia realized the same thing, too late-- ‘powergenitalia [dot] com’. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-my-brain-doesnt-brain-quite-right/1021727/3 "2025-08-05T17:21:43Z")
I have a farm website, and I keep getting offers to buy a domain address – with the divider in the farm name in the wrong place entirely, changing the meaning drastically. I think this sort of thing is pretty common. I also do it sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-my-brain-doesnt-brain-quite-right/1021727/4 "2025-08-05T17:46:09Z")
For the longest time I thought it was Man Get Out instead of @Mangetout, French for eats all. And I also thought that it was Puzz Legal for the longest time. Then again, my brain doesn’t always function properly either. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-my-brain-doesnt-brain-quite-right/1021727/5 "2025-08-05T17:54:10Z")
Good point, solo street! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-my-brain-doesnt-brain-quite-right/1021727/6 "2025-08-05T17:54:52Z")
As I’ve mentioned before on this Board, I once saw a sign that read… MYTH READING SALON … and I thought “Why haven’t I heard about this before? I _love_ reading myths!” Then I looked closer at the sign, and saw that it really read MY THREADING SALON ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-my-brain-doesnt-brain-quite-right/1021727/7 "2025-08-05T18:02:20Z")
I still read “Puzzlegal” as “puzz legal”; too many years at the Bar not to see the word “legal” there. (and I did initially wonder if puzz was ever illegal somewhere and that had changed.) ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-my-brain-doesnt-brain-quite-right/1021727/8 "2025-08-05T18:07:48Z")
Not far from me is an attorney’s office with their website address on the bottom of a signboard. It says, “[town name]lawhelp(dot)com.” Of course, I read it as “[town name] La Whelp (dot) com. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-my-brain-doesnt-brain-quite-right/1021727/9 "2025-08-05T18:14:29Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Good point, solo street! 😆 ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-my-brain-doesnt-brain-quite-right/1021727/10 "2025-08-05T18:25:44Z")
There is a news outlet here called Big Island News Now. I always read their website as Big Island New Snow. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-my-brain-doesnt-brain-quite-right/1021727/11 "2025-08-05T18:27:59Z")
We’re taught to read(in English)a certain way. When what you see on a page or screen is interpreted way back in your brain to when you first read sentences. If it doesn’t fit the norm your brain tries to fix it to fit something you can understand. Blame your early reading comprehension. I read early, but it was years before sentence structure even occurred to me. By then it was ingrained. Add dialect and any foreign words or phrases and I got a lot of things confused. It’s not your brain. It’s everyone’s brain. I’ve seen a bunch of signs and businesses that if they’d have shown it to one 14yo boy, first, the embarrassing name would be apparent. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-my-brain-doesnt-brain-quite-right/1021727/12 "2025-08-05T18:52:49Z")
Everyone who has ever registered a domain name containing the word “therapist” has eventually regretted it. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-my-brain-doesnt-brain-quite-right/1021727/13 "2025-08-05T19:03:18Z")
I learned that one from Benny Hill! ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-my-brain-doesnt-brain-quite-right/1021727/14 "2025-08-05T19:19:44Z")
#nods# A venue that featured house and hip hop registered as [hiphophut.com](http://hiphophut.com) and of course I stared at it and sounded it out as “high foe futt”. You definitely ain’t alone. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-my-brain-doesnt-brain-quite-right/1021727/15 "2025-08-05T19:29:47Z")
> [@ricepad](#): > > I will frequently read @puzzlegal as “puzz legal”. Anybody else have this problem? I will never not read it as puzz legal. > [@ricepad](#): > > I learned that one from Benny Hill! It’s also a famous Saturday Night Live skit. There’s a town in England named Scunthorpe that became famous as one of the first places blocked in URLs because of a hidden combination of characters. The town has given its name to the phenomena, called the Scunthorpe Problem. > **[Scunthorpe problem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scunthorpe_problem)** > > The Scunthorpe problem is the unintentional blocking of online content by a spam filter or search engine because their text contains a string (or substring) of letters that appear to have an obscene or otherwise unacceptable meaning. Names, abbreviations, and technical terms are most often cited as being affected by the issue. > The problem arises since computers can easily identify strings of text within a document, but interpreting words of this kind requires considerable ability to interpret ... ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-my-brain-doesnt-brain-quite-right/1021727/16 "2025-08-05T19:38:06Z")
Let’s not forget Pen Island. I’ve done that with user names here, too, but not the ones mentioned. Unfortunately my brain isn’t braining enough right now to remember which. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-my-brain-doesnt-brain-quite-right/1021727/17 "2025-08-05T19:53:10Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > It’s also a famous Saturday Night Live skit. Didn’t know that. If it wasn’t the original cast, I didn’t see it. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-my-brain-doesnt-brain-quite-right/1021727/18 "2025-08-05T19:59:28Z")
I’m glad to see I’m far from the onliest one. I’ll stop wondering if I’m some kind of dyslexic weirdo. > [@AHunter3](#): > > “high foe futt” I think the correct pronunciation would be “high _fuh_ futt". ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2025, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-my-brain-doesnt-brain-quite-right/1021727/20 "2025-08-06T00:48:15Z")
NASA also got hit with the Scunthorpe Problem, on a page about the Mars Explorer mission. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2025, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-my-brain-doesnt-brain-quite-right/1021727/21 "2025-08-06T00:52:38Z")
A Chinese restaurant in Philly called “Han Dynasty” quickly became known by locals as “Handy Nasty.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-my-brain-doesnt-brain-quite-right/1021727.md?page=2)