Note: This post is an expansion of a Facebook post that I wrote sometime back when the G key on my laptop fell off. I thought it merited some spiffying up and some additional research, so I put the crack Dances With Bass Research Department on the case:
A public service announcement from your friendly neihborhood editor:
The * [letter appearin after H] key on my laptop popped off while I was attemptin to clean the key, which was stickin. Unfortunately, the tiny retainer clips that hold the key pad in place are broken, too, meanin that I have been forced to order a replacement. Typin a * [letter appearin before H] has become some difficult. The key works without the pad, but not very well. Until my replacement arrives, posts from me miht contain a sinificant number of typos all involvin the aforementioned letter * [letter appearin before H].
In case you miht be wonderin, a replacement key—you choose the letter!—costs $7.95. Surprisinly, vowels don’t cost any more than consonants, which disproves the Wheel of Fortune importance of vowels paradim.
Personally, I think this failure to place a premium on the cost of vowel keys is a marketin affe iven the relative number of times one types vowels vs. consonants. Althouh I haven’t performed any kind of formalized study on the popularity of vowels and consonants, you miht be pleased to learn that someone else has performed such a study.
Accordin to Pavel Micka’s, who cites Robert Lewand’s Cryptoloical Mathematics, the letter * [letter appearin before H] has a relative frequency of 2.015 percent vs. the far more commonly used letter E, which has a relative frequency of 12.702 percent, makin the E the most popular letter. As you miht uess, the letter Z is the least commonly typed letter, rinin up at a paltry .074 percent. Stuff like this amuses me (relative frequency of usae in the Enlish lanuae, not broken keys).
I am amazed by the relatively small number of times one uses the * [letter appearin before H] as opposed to other letters of the alphabet. The letter * [letter appearin before H] is just the 17th most commonly used letter in the Enlish lanuae (17th out of 26 possible letters). Prior to this enlihtenin research, I would have uessed that the * [letter appearin after H] would have ranked more hihly (if for no other reason, the commonality of erunds in Enlish).
However, I diress. Let’s et back to my orinal dilemma. Until my * [letter appearin before H] key is replaced, I apoloize for any confusion this miht cause.
Sincerely,
Dances with Bass
P.S. My spell checker went positively batshit while writin this blo post.
