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

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The discussion revolves around a test designed to count the letter "F" in a specific sentence. Participants are encouraged not to cheat, emphasizing that the test is meant to be fun. Many users struggle with the task, often counting fewer "F's" than the actual number, which is six. This discrepancy is attributed to the brain's tendency to overlook certain words, particularly "of," which some participants mistakenly perceive as "V's." The conversation also touches on common grammatical mistakes in informal U.S. English, such as using "should of" instead of "should have." Overall, the thread highlights the challenges of perception in word recognition and the shared experience of miscounting the letters.
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)
 
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  • #20
Lol, this is "effing" great.
 
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