Count the F's in the Sentence: Uncover the Truth!

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around a challenge to count the letter F in a specific sentence. Participants share their experiences and results, reflecting on the cognitive aspects of counting and perception of letters. The scope includes informal reasoning and personal anecdotes related to the task.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants report counting six F's, attributing their success to prior experience with similar challenges.
  • Others express frustration at counting fewer F's, with some stating they counted three or four.
  • A few participants mention the tendency to overlook the word "of," which contains the letter F, suggesting it may be perceived differently.
  • One participant raises a question about the informal usage of "should of" and "could of" in American English, linking it to the broader discussion of language perception.
  • Another participant challenges the idea that the brain sees F's as V's, suggesting that focus on key words may lead to overlooking certain letters.
  • Several participants note their non-native speaker status and how it affected their counting results.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally do not agree on the number of F's counted, with multiple competing views on the correct count and the reasons behind their counting experiences. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the cognitive aspects of letter perception.

Contextual Notes

Some participants mention the influence of prior knowledge on their counting results, indicating that familiarity with the challenge may affect outcomes. There is also a discussion about informal language usage that remains open-ended.

dontdisturbmycircles
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Don't cheat! Because if you did, the test would be no fun.I promise, there are no tricks to the test.
Read the sentence below and count the F's in that sentence.Count them ONLY ONCE. Do not go back and count them again.
See solutions for your score below (it's whited out).

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE-
SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIF-
IC STUDY COMBINED WITH
THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS.

select to see:

There are six F's in the sentence.

There is no catch.
Many people forget the "OF"'s.
The human brain tends to see them as V's and not F's.
Pretty weird, huh?

I couldn't believe it, I concentrated very hard. Determined to count every single one, but still counted 3! :frown::smile:

I want to make sure I am not the only one
[/color]
 
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Six, my friend :smile: But only because I'm encountered this specific one at least six times probably.
 
Thats another thing that pissed me off..

I remembered doing one, and missed F's on that one too... lol

Seeing as I have seen this before other people probably have too. Hopefully there are a few that will fall for it and feel as dumb as I did. :-P
 
Everytime I see the 'Finished Files...', 6 is the number that comes to mind. :D
 
I only counted three as well!
 
i counted 3 =O
 
I did cheat and read it over twice. Got 4 the first time and 5 the second. Missed that last damned 'of'. :redface:
 
Only because I remembered the "of" thing from previous scenarios I counted 6, "for" is another word people miss.
 
5 the first time n then 6(in the second hit ofcourse)
 
  • #10
In the answer 'circles provided, it is stated that "The human brain tends to see them as V's and not F's." I do not think that I "see them as V's." It may well have something to do with the way I pronounce words as opposed to, say, Americans or the British. But this brings up a question that has been nagging me for some time. I have noticed in quite a few internet forums that many people (USAmericans, as far I've seen) tend to write 'should of', 'could of' instead of the usual 'should have/should've' and 'could have/could've'. Is this form of writing restricted only to (informal?) US English?
 
  • #11
neutrino said:
In the answer 'circles provided, it is stated that "The human brain tends to see them as V's and not F's." I do not think that I "see them as V's."
Your brain doesn't see them as v's, it's that we tend to overlook words like "of" because we're focussing on the key words.

I have noticed in quite a few internet forums that many people (USAmericans, as far I've seen) tend to write 'should of', 'could of' instead of the usual 'should have/should've' and 'could have/could've'. Is this form of writing restricted only to (informal?) US English?
It's not correct English, even informal, it's a mistake where people are typing phonectically, and a very widespread mistake at that.
 
  • #12
Thanks for clearing that up, Evo. :)
 
  • #13
Since I'm not a native speaker I counted 6[/color] at the very 1st try!
 
  • #14
3 for me! Those pesky f's are hard to keep track of!
 
  • #15
Lisa! said:
Since I'm not a native speaker I counted 6[/color] at the very 1st try!
Also you're smarter than the average bear. And you probably don't know what that means. It's a compliment.
 
  • #16
3 F's. Probably because of the typical focusing on the key words. But then again, one needed to look for the F's ! This is interesting.
 
  • #17
Evo said:
Also you're smarter than the average bear. And you probably don't know what that means. It's a compliment.

Thanks! Yea, I had to google to see what that means!:-p
 
  • #18
Holy crap! I put in a concerted effort when I counted the Fs, and even cheated and counted again, but only found 3! Wow. :bugeye:
 
  • #19
Yea, with the 'seeing them as v's' thing, I just copied and pasted from the email I got.:smile:

morphism said:
Holy crap! I put in a concerted effort when I counted the Fs, and even cheated and counted again, but only found 3! Wow. :bugeye:

Thats the exact same feeling I had! :-p (although I didn't count again)
 
Last edited:
  • #20
Lol, this is "effing" great.
 

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