A Reading Lesson

I recently saw a traffic warning sign and took note of it. It caught my attention because I saw it but I did not at first exactly read it word for word. You may have seen it and I will quote it word for word - WHEN FLOODED TURN AROUND DON'T DROWN. When you know word for word what the sign says it certainly makes sense. But as I was driving along (and flooding was not on my mind due to the current conditions), what I read or comprehended were -WHEN FLOODED DON'T TURN AROUND DROWN. That was what caught my attention. So the next time I passed the sign I paid more attention to it and caught the whole message.

So is this something limited to me - only catching a part of the words when I read? I've discovered through conversations with others that this is not unusual. As a matter of fact I have heard similar observations about the SAME sign.

When we read there are different things that affect how and what we read. That probably explains why there are differences in what we read as well.