I have lost my ability to type "THE"
@RawBill1 (8531)
Gold Coast, Australia
February 1, 2011 3:44am CST
Lately I have picked up a very annoying habit. I cannot type th eword THE without separating it and attaching the "E" to the following word. For example. "I am going to th eshop. Th ecar ran out of fuel"
It started a few weeks ago after I had a few weeks away form the computer. I thought initially that my hands just needed to get used to typing again and that the problem would go away. But it is getting worse! It even happened for every THE in this post! 
Does anything like this ever happen to you? Any suggestions on how to get over it? 
Does anything like this ever happen to you? Any suggestions on how to get over it? 2 people like this
22 responses
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
2 Feb 11
Although sometimes I haveth is problem instead....
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
4 Feb 11
Ha! The funny (or sad) thing is that I watch my fingers the whole time that I am typing. I never look at the screen until I finish! 
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
10 Feb 11
Good morning. You were onto this reply fast! I tend to hit the caps lock every now and then or the enter instead of shift which messes things up a bit!
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
10 Feb 11
It only appears that I got it right as I edited it first!
I get O and P back to front from time to time as well. Also with I on it's own, sometimes I miss the shift key to make it a capital. Pretty common that one i think! 
I get O and P back to front from time to time as well. Also with I on it's own, sometimes I miss the shift key to make it a capital. Pretty common that one i think! 
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
1 Feb 11
I think that my style of typing is incorrect too as I taught myself through practice after we got computers. The only formal typing training that I had was at school in the 1980's for one year. That was one hour per week and on typewriters! No computers back then to fix easily your errors so you had to be precise! 
1 person likes this
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
1 Feb 11
Hi Jen. sometimes I can type like a demon with no errors at an incredible pace, but then other times I cannot even get a sentence together without ruining every word! I get lettrs backward like you, letters missing or attached to other words like I do with THE! 
Luckily Firefox picks up all my errors and highlights them with a red underline.
Luckily Firefox picks up all my errors and highlights them with a red underline. @RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
1 Feb 11
Oops, I needed the edit function then. Missed an underline until it was too late! 
@margeryann (1845)
• United States
3 Feb 11
I've never ran into that problem so I don't know how you can straighten up the problem. Hopefully it isn't a medical condition causing the problem.
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
4 Feb 11
I am sure that it is not medical, just me trying to type too fast for my capabilities!
@margeryann (1845)
• United States
4 Feb 11
You're probably right you know the situation better then me. LOL Have a good day.
@SViswan (12051)
• India
2 Feb 11
Not really for the word 'The'....but I do have a problem with some words. I type very fast and sometimes when I start with a capital letter, the next letter is typed even before I let go of the 'Shift' key and I end up having two capital letters instead of just one. It happens to me quite often...lol.
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
2 Feb 11
I occasionally do the capital letter thing as well. Not often, but it does happen along with all sorts of other random errors!
@mermaidivy (15395)
• United States
1 Feb 11
hehe I have similar problems like you do but I have problems with because - I often type it in becaus exxxxxx. I seperate the e and put it with the next word together. I guess we should just slow down when typing...
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
2 Feb 11
I have noticed that I do it with other words as well, leaving the last letter off and then sticking it to the next word, but it happens more frequently with the letter 'e' and the word 'the' in particular. I am trying to slow myself down, but it is hard to stop going fast.
@Hiker769 (85)
• United States
3 Feb 11
Yeah, I do that too. Only it's not regulated to the word the. When I get typing to fast, alot of my words end up like that. What's worse is that I still look at the keyboard quite often when I type, so I don't catch my mistakes until the end of an email or whateve I'm typing.
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
4 Feb 11
Me too! I look at my keyboard the whole time and do not discover all the mistakes until the end. It is not just the word THE for me, but with other words it is only every now and then. With THE it seems to happen 90% of the time!
(I just corrected all of the mistakes at the end of this sentence. There were three of them and they were all THE!)
@rkanwarji1 (61)
• India
2 Feb 11
The "THE" problem is very rare with me but yes i tend to miss(skip) words in between sentences even short 'i' instead of 'I'.
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
2 Feb 11
I do the i thing as well from time to time and I also join words together instead of spacing them. I had to pick one of the most commonly used words in the English language to have problems with! Typical!
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
2 Feb 11
I used to do teh instead of the sometimes, but now I have evolved my THE problem. I had to choose one of the most commonly used words in the English language to mess up didn't I!
@stk40m (1119)
• Koeln, Germany
10 Mar 11
this problem reminds me of stammer. People who stammer also have problems to speak certain words, e.g. th th th the c c ca car is b b bb bbroken.
so maybe the same or similar techniques that help stammerers to cope with their problem could help you, too :-)
Cheers
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
11 Mar 11
I think that by practising it daily, which I do all the time anyway and by being aware of the problem and slowing down my typing, it may fix itself. I am still doing it probably 75% of the time though. It is weird that I never used to do it and now I do though.
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
2 Feb 11
Talking aloud might get me some funny looks and distract my wife who sits at the desk opposite me, but I could try it quietly in a whisper perhaps.
Yes, welcome to MyLot from me too! 
Yes, welcome to MyLot from me too! 
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
1 Feb 11
I never used to have these problems as I was learning to type, but as I have gotten better over the years, I have also gotten more confident and fast so I tend to make more mistakes as I am probably being too overconfident and relying on Firefox picking up my errors in the spell check.
@derek_a (10874)
•
1 Feb 11
It happens to me somedays, not necessarily with the "E" of words, but the ends of other words, and sometimes getting my letters the wrong way around in a word! I just slow myself down and concentrate very hard on getting things right. I tend to type fairly fast whilst looking at the screen, not the keyboard. I have taught myself the touch-typing method so I do tend to see mistakes as the words show on the screen. But not always! _Derek
_Derek@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
2 Feb 11
Well you are better than me Derek. I am not looking at the screen when I am typing. I would end up writing something like sjj a//ax jjffvmlvlfpe if I tried that!
I have to watch my fingers but I still make mistakes! My wife can type really fast without looking at where her fingers are going. I do not know how she taught herself to do it as we have both been on computers for the same amount of years!
I think slowing down is the key for me right now. Just need to pace myself!
I have to watch my fingers but I still make mistakes! My wife can type really fast without looking at where her fingers are going. I do not know how she taught herself to do it as we have both been on computers for the same amount of years!
I think slowing down is the key for me right now. Just need to pace myself! 
@akangirl (2436)
• India
1 Feb 11
Atleast you don't make spelling mistakes or totally forget to write the word.I am facing this problem.I have the correct sentence in mind but when i write i tend to forget to write some words and when i post i get to see my reply and then i get know lol , again i made a mistake.
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
1 Feb 11
Oh, I do those things too, but they are more random that what happens to me with the word THE. At least you have the excuse of English not being your first language too. So you are actually doing pretty well.
@macdingolinger (10386)
• United States
1 Feb 11
I have had very similar problems with my typing. It's really because I am trying to go too fast! I have to slow down a little bit, I guess my head gets to going faster than my hands can even keep up with! I find when I slow down just a little bit I do a little better!
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
2 Feb 11
Yeah, I think that going a little slower will in fact make the whole posting process a little faster as I will not have as many errors to fix at the end. I think it depends on how tired I am too. If I try to hang out here at the end of the day as I am currently doing, I think the problem is a lot worse than it is in the mornings.
@malpoa (1214)
• India
1 Feb 11
It used to happen with me too..I used tot type 'the' with left hand and the space button with right thumb..what happened was that my right finger was much faster than my left..so the space came before I finished the word..I slowly increased the speed of left fingers. It worked for me..But I do not know your typing pattern...
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
2 Feb 11
I have not taken notice of how I type 'the' until you just mentioned it. I am taking note of what fingers I use to type the word 'the' now and I can tell you that I use my left index and middle finger to type 'the' and my right thumb for the space bar. I guess being right handed and having less work to do with that particular word would make the space come earlier. You might be onto something here!
@much2say (55655)
• Los Angeles, California
1 Feb 11
Hee hee. I think you just need to slow down on your typing. Sometimes when we do things too fast (anything), our technique gets sloppy . . . so time to go back and retune those skills. I know I sometimes SKIP words when I type . . . it's like my mind is going faster than what I can type - so when I do that, I know I need to s-l-o-w down.
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
2 Feb 11
I agree with you. I think I do need to take a back step, slow down and increase the amount of words that I get right. I am lucky that I have spell check, but it still takes time to go back and correct everything. It would be much quicker to type slower and get it right in the first place. 
