Monday, January 29, 2007

On Lysdexia

I found out in my late teens that I'm dyslexic. Fortunately, being taught to read by my parents at a very early age helped immeasurably, as I was able to recognize the words and letters by shape and familiarity, but on occasion I have problems when I read too quickly or an unfamiliar word pops up, and I still see some words as I first read them.
For example, aged about five or six, I recall being in the car with my mother and wondering why so many shoplifters advertized their career on the sides of their vans. I asked my mum, and after a while she worked out that they were shop fitters.
Dessicated coconut will forever remain 'dedicated' in my brain, and I still prefer aminals to houmous.
Numbers are also a problem sometimes, and I've spent many a happy hour phoning random strangers in my attempts to get my fives and threes the right way round.
The words elements and elephants are interchangeable in my world, and I fall about laughing each time someone exposes themselves to a large animal with big ears and a trunk.
There are more examples, but my favourite involves a certain brand of cleaning stuff which is promoted by a shouty bloke.
Cillit Bang looked very interesting when I first saw the label.

Anyhoo, without further rambling, here are your choices for tomorrow's feature presentation -

Emergency Stop.
Bat.
Fight Pub.

Choose wisely, my angels.