31
$\begingroup$

Most accomplished autohrs are aware of the critical importance of proper grammar and spelling. The the neccessity of riting one's ideas succinctly, appropriately, and without error is parmaount. Occassional oversights may be forgived, but generall the technical corectness of a written document is considered a gauge of proffesionalism, a reflection of the author's erudition and attention do detail. Propar care must be taken to avoid simple mistakes that betray ignorance of bsaic language mechanics such as tense, subject-verb aggreement and the proper use of holonyms. An writer with with a mastery of the English language should be able to write, boldly and without assisstance, "Precisely what is done upto the former, that cahnge must be done also to the latter." But I digresses, as I often has. The answer to this puzzle is also the answer to the question:

O H T H E C A M S D I B F T O A A S G L A N W I T H S P A H E S S ?

What is the answer to the puzzle, dear reader?

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
6
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ The grammar is so terrible, it's making my eyes sore. $\endgroup$
    – mmking
    Jul 12, 2015 at 21:35
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @mmking: I wonder what it would take to fix it? ;) $\endgroup$
    – COTO
    Jul 12, 2015 at 21:36
  • $\begingroup$ A lot of work, which I am too lazy to do. Laziness may not be a bad thing... $\endgroup$
    – mmking
    Jul 12, 2015 at 21:37
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @mmking: A lazy bird never catches the puzzle. ...or something like that. $\endgroup$
    – COTO
    Jul 12, 2015 at 21:39
  • 6
    $\begingroup$ OK, another of these puzzles where I nearly click the 'edit' button to improve the quality of the post, before realising it's part of the puzzle ;-) $\endgroup$
    – Rand al'Thor
    Jul 12, 2015 at 21:56

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
26
$\begingroup$

The text has a number of spelling a grammar mistakes that should be corrected.

Swap 'O' and 'H' in 'autohrs'
Remove 'THE'
Remove 'C' from 'neccessity'
Add 'W' to 'riting'
Swap 'M' and 'A' in 'parmaount'
Remove 'S' from 'occassional'
'D' --> 'N' in 'forgived'
Add 'Y' to 'generall'
Add 'R' to 'corectness'
Remove 'F' from 'proffesionalism'
Add 'S' to 'proffesionalism'
'D' --> 'T' in 'do'
'A' --> 'E' in 'propar'
Swap 'S' and 'A' in 'bsaic'
Remove 'G' from 'aggreement'
'L' --> 'M' in 'holonyms'
Remove 'N' from 'an'
'P' --> 'N' in 'upto'
Swap 'A' and 'H' in 'cahnge'
Remove 'ES' from 'digresses'
'S' --> 'VE' in 'has'

Making the same changes to the string
'O H T H E C A M S D I B F T O A A S G L A N W I T H S P A H E S S?' results in:
'HOW MANY RIBS DOES A MAN HAVE?'
The answer is 24.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
5
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Darn. You guys are fast! These things never make it more than an hour. >___< $\endgroup$
    – COTO
    Jul 12, 2015 at 22:08
  • $\begingroup$ Wow, I had been designing a puzzle using the same mechanism! $\endgroup$
    – xnor
    Jul 13, 2015 at 0:05
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Isn't the question a bit like asking "how many toes does a man have?" The "man" part seems oddly specific... $\endgroup$
    – superphonic
    Jul 13, 2015 at 13:13
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ It could be part of the old "women have an extra rib" myth. Or it could be man as in "human". $\endgroup$
    – Set Big O
    Jul 13, 2015 at 13:26
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @superphonic: You're overthinking things. I wanted a question of specific length (to ensure there was enough work involved in deciphering the string), and I wanted the words to be 4 letters or less so that it would be harder to guess them after translating only a few letters. ;) $\endgroup$
    – COTO
    Jul 13, 2015 at 16:31

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.