Acronyms: Automated Teller Machine and Personal Identification Number, respectively.
Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
That's it. Thanks, Trent. Some sort of block where those terms are concerned.
Automated Teller Machine Machine
Personal Identification Number Number
As for the other mistakes, I have a sort of theory.
I've been going slowly blind over the last 20 years or so. At this point, I've lost around 95 percent of my visual field. What I'm left with is a small, relatively clear spot of 20/80 in my left eye. The rest is either just gone or is a miasma of vaguely sensed light, color or movement. Reading printed material, for me anyway, is very difficult now and rare, except as reference or with highly specialized equipment. Computers that enable me to listen and follow visually as I can (i.e., TextAloud) are the greatest help to me.
What I've seen in this progression has been not just the diminishment of my skill in spelling, but mistakes of the sort listed above; role vs. roll, for instance. I suppose that I seem to hear the words more in my head these days without examining them visually. I usually catch the problem, but that it has become a problem has intrigued and troubled me and I'm certain has a great deal to do with my reliance shifting from my eyes and visual memory, to my ears and aural memory of words. One of my solutions, and it comes out as a solution on the page, if not in my head, lays trying to apply greater attention and "system," I suppose, to my writing.
So is there a lesson here? If anything, I supppose, it's
pay attention. That'll get you further and more credibly through your writing than dreaming your way through it.
