How do I assign a string as a keyboard shortcut? [duplicate]
I found the answer - autokey. This lets you set up shortcuts that can be triggered either by a hot key, or simply typing an abbreviation. I've already added automatic replacement for the common mispellings I make, like replacing "hte" with "the".
You can install autokey with with synaptic package manager, for either KDE or GNOME. For Ubuntu 14.04 and newer, the package is autokey-gtk.
I'm a long time Ubuntu user, and I'm kicking myself for missing out on this awesome little app until now.