BS: The perils of relying on spellcheck

Subject: BS: The perils of relying on spellcheck
From: G-Force
Date: 20 Dec 14 - 09:05 AM

I quote from the current issue of the BBC Music magazine (Kathryn Tickell describing the Northumbrian pipes):

The instrument is a type of bagpipe, but not mouth-blown - the air comes from bellows strapped around your waste.

Subject: RE: BS: The perils of relying on spellcheck
From: GUEST,#
Date: 20 Dec 14 - 09:34 AM

And then ya got auto correct.

Subject: RE: BS: The perils of relying on spellcheck
From: Rapparee
Date: 20 Dec 14 - 09:46 AM

Reporters and many other rely on spell-check and autocorrect. It wood be Nice of steeple chucked there word before sending id.

Subject: RE: BS: The perils of relying on spellcheck
From: oldhippie
Date: 20 Dec 14 - 05:09 PM

My previous computer spell-check corrected "rabbi" to "rabbit".....

Subject: RE: BS: The perils of relying on spellcheck
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 21 Dec 14 - 12:31 AM

Altho I have set my  to Union Jack in header menu, for British spellings, it still underlines words like 'colour' & 'honour' [yay, there it goes] to indicate that it thinks it has spotted an error. So why does it bother offering what purports to be a specifically British setting if it can't even adjust its own expectations to that extent?

≈M≈

Subject: RE: BS: The perils of relying on spellcheck
From: GUEST,DaveRo
Date: 21 Dec 14 - 03:48 AM

"Altho I have set my  to Union Jack in header menu"

The glyph between 'my' and 'to' doesn't display here, but then this is Google Android. Perhaps it's copyright.

Subject: RE: BS: The perils of relying on spellcheck
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 21 Dec 14 - 03:57 AM

It just showed the 'Apple' logo.

Subject: RE: BS: The perils of relying on spellcheck
From: GUEST,DaveRo
Date: 21 Dec 14 - 04:23 AM

I know - but I had to look at the page source and google to find out. I wanted to know what you meant. I wonder if any any non-Apple users can see it?

Subject: RE: BS: The perils of relying on spellcheck
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 21 Dec 14 - 04:32 AM

What I meant was, that my Apple computer offers a choice in its header menu of US or British usages, for which one clicks on a Stars·&·Stripes or a Union Jack logo in the header menu. But even when one opts for the Union Jack, so that notionally British usage would have precedence, British spellings of words like 'colour' still get a dotted red line underneath, indicating that the spellchecker spots an error; so I don't see what is the supposed purpose of providing that option if it doesn't have any actual effect.

≈M≈

Subject: RE: BS: The perils of relying on spellcheck
From: GUEST,DaveRo
Date: 21 Dec 14 - 05:05 AM

Ideally, in this forum, you need a superset - check against either EN-US or EN-GB. Unless you adopt the locale of the OP.

I have several spellcheckers for different languages, including US and GB English. I sometimes used to spellcheck a usenet post against both and I noticed that there were random differences between them: I remember that the US one had 'schadenfreude' but not 'soufflé' and the GB one was the opposite!

Subject: RE: BS: The perils of relying on spellcheck
From: Anne Lister
Date: 21 Dec 14 - 04:55 PM

My favourite moment was when a character in my novel (yes, I've written one, and it's called "Slipping Through the Cracks" and you could buy one if you wanted on Kindle or from Amazon ...) was spell-checked from Geraint to Geranium.
Would definitely have changed the mood of the piece ...

Subject: RE: BS: The perils of relying on spellcheck
From: GUEST,saulgoldie
Date: 22 Dec 14 - 12:29 PM

The secret to using spellcheck is...don't. Don't use grammarcheck either, for that matter. Just prooffread your prattlings carefully, as if you actually care.

Saul

Subject: RE: BS: The perils of relying on spellcheck
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Dec 14 - 01:00 PM

'Just prooffread your prattlings carefully'

Tee hee.

Subject: RE: BS: The perils of relying on spellcheck
From: Don Firth
Date: 22 Dec 14 - 02:04 PM

I don't have a "smart(?)phone" or other pocket communication device, except for a very primitive cell phone.   You can make phone calls with it, but that's it. No texting or anything like that.

I use Microsoft Word on the computer and it doesn't correct, but if it doesn't recognize a word, it puts a blue squiggly line under it. Handy for catching typos.

But I also have a copy of Dragon Naturally Speaking voice recognition software on my computer, so I can start that up, then sit back and dictate to the computer, and the words appear miraculously on the screen. However, IT can do some pretty weird things if it mishears something or if you use a word that isn't in its dictionary.

My wife has a number of nationalities in her lineage (English, Swedish, Swiss…) but her last name is Czechoslovakian, which, if properly spelled, has umlauts and cedillas and other accent marks over certain letters. What the voice recognition program does with her last name (which she uses for business reasons) is mind-boggling to behold!!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: The perils of relying on spellcheck
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 22 Dec 14 - 02:21 PM

You can't tell your pines from your penis on spellcheck.

Subject: RE: BS: The perils of relying on spellcheck
From: Musket
Date: 22 Dec 14 - 02:27 PM

Whenever I wish to type "I don't necessarily agree with you but I try to make allowances," it comes out as;

Nurse! He's out of bed again!


My Apple can do this
👴👃💩

Subject: RE: BS: The perils of relying on spellcheck
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 22 Dec 14 - 02:33 PM

My Apple can't read those. I have an illiterate Apple alas!

Subject: RE: BS: The perils of relying on spellcheck
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 22 Dec 14 - 02:33 PM

Then there's what the spell checker doesn't correct. Such as the time I referred to a letter from the Dike of Norfolk.

"Westmonster" falls into that category too, but that was on an IBM Selectric. (Anybody remember those?)

Subject: RE: BS: The perils of relying on spellcheck
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 22 Dec 14 - 06:04 PM

It is quite common for the 'l' to be left out of 'public', but your spellcheck won't tell you.

Subject: RE: BS: The perils of relying on spellcheck
From: Bill D
Date: 22 Dec 14 - 08:19 PM

It can also be very interesting amusing to rely on closed-caption on the TV.

I have 'some' hearing and attention problems, so often turn it on... especially when listening to someone with a different accent. Yesterday I was listening to Al Jazeera reporting sports news, including a ski racer falling.. (she's fine)... and news in the bobsled training area. I was watching the captions scroll and only half listening to the audio about mixed-doubles in 4-'person' bobsled, so imagine my reaction when this rolled by:

"... so now we have women come peeing in the 4-man bobsled teams..."

It took me 4-5 seconds to translate..... I suppose Dragon Naturally Speaking might be involved...

Subject: RE: BS: The perils of relying on spellcheck
From: Don Firth
Date: 22 Dec 14 - 10:26 PM

Undoubtedly a set-up similar to Dragon Naturally Speaking.

When you first get Dragon, you have to train it (and yourself) by reading a couple of pieces that come with the program so that it can get used to your voice and how you pronounce various words. But even then, the first few weeks you use it can be pretty interesting. It can come up with some real lollapaloozas. But it's possible to add words, or names that you use frequently—also technical jargon—to the program's dictionary. It gets pretty accurate in a very brief time. But it can still throw you a curve now and then, so it pays to proofread.

When I first started using it, I thought it was kind of a pain in the nethers because I had to keep making corrections and adding words to its vocabulary. Then I notice that, even with that, I was cranking out about twice the amount of usable copy in the same amount of time!

I don't use it all the time, but if I'm writing a fairly long piece, I'll crank it up.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: The perils of relying on spellcheck
From: GUEST,bernieandred
Date: 23 Dec 14 - 02:58 AM

I was writing to a French friend named Jaques & spellcheck wasn't happy. Suggested jack ass!!!