I didn't have any problem with the initial paragraph. In fact, I remember that the first time I read it, I hadn't noticed that the first few words were intentionally scrambled. I was surprised when I read "mttaer inwaht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are" because I didn't even realize that was what was going on. Of course, I already knew that I (and probably many other people) read words largely by the first letter and the general length of the word, with a few letters in-between. It's always been apparent to me, though, because almost every time I forget a name, I tell people "It's eight letters and begins with a B! And ends with a T! Argh . . . I can't remember any of the other letters."