Today's post is an unoffical follow-up to my last post, entitled "The Grammar Nazi." So why, you wonder, does this post feature a Janis Joplin LP as its prominent illustration?
1. I wasn't about to use the "Grammar Nazi" symbol again, because it looks too much like the real Nazi flag (as it was meant to, of course). And real Nazis suck.
2. Even if I had used the "Grammar Nazi" symbol again, a quick glance at this post might make you think "Oh, I already read that one!" You'd skip it.
3. I ripped off was inspired by her album's title when I came up with my post's title. Obviously.
4. I love Janis Joplin, and it's my freakin' blog. Heh.
Anyway, fellow babies...
I've blogged about spell-checkers before (notably here) but here I go again.
When I write (or even read) documents, type emails, or when I compose posts or comments on Blogger, my/their spell-checkers automatically underline words in red when they're wrong, or when the spell-checkers "think" they're wrong.
For instance, when I wrote a recent post about Keair Snyder's book, Castles Made of Sand, the spell-checker underlined "Keair" in my draft. I got rid of that problem with the "add to dictionary" function.
Words like "storyline" (my preferred form) are often pointed out as "wrong." The suggested fixes? "Story-line" and "story line." Screw that. "Add to dictionary" to the rescue once again!
"Leave me alone, Mr. Spell-checker!"
Wednesday, however, I was commenting on someone else's blog. I typed the word "advisor" and got a red line! Suggested fixes? "Ad-visor," "ad visor," "adviser," "advisory," and -- and this is my effin' favorite! -- "advisors!" So, "advisor" should be "adviser," but if it's plural, it's "advisors?" WTF?!? Even though I was 99.999% sure of myself, I checked online, and (naturally) "advisor" is indeed correct!
That's why I don't trust them much, except to catch most of the typos!
"Leave me alone, Mr. Spell-checker!"
Thanks for your time.
I think you need to run over Mr. Spell-checker with your car! ;)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm always correcting my spellchecker, too.
ReplyDelete@Betsy: I like the way you think!
ReplyDelete@Roy: Yeah, Man over Machinery! Power to the people!
That's hilarious. If I think spell checker is wrong, I'll end up changing the word I'm using because a) I'm too lazy to look it up and b) I don't want to appear really stupid if I'm wrong (just stupid, not really stupid). : )
ReplyDeleteI used to follow a blogger -- now "retired" --who had great story ideas, but her spelling was so bad (and she knew it) that she relied far too much on her spell-checker. So her posts were full of correctly-spelled words which she'd used incorrectly. You know, the "waist" vs. "waste" kinda thing.
ReplyDeleteOr the well vs while or bear vs bare type of thing..lol
ReplyDeleteYeah spell-checker sucks. It's fine for the simple ones and I suppose it does show you some errors, but it's not the above all and be all some people make it out to be.
"Oh I spell-checked it, I'm done and good to go" pfffft
@Pat: "Well" vs. "while" is a whollllle different thing. Haha!
ReplyDeletehahahahaha! what Betsy said.
ReplyDeletespell checker is a pet peeve of mine not only because I find it often incorrect (depending on syntax) but also it corrects perfectly acceptable spellings that are now considered antiquated. Case in point: surprize is corrected to "surprise". (Yes, the first one is underliined in red right now) I love the word shoppe. It is not acceptable.
There are more but my brain is tired.
@Cali Girl: Yup, another good point! And it can't read your mind and correct the things it should. So if you write "compliment" when you should have written "complement," you're outta luck!
ReplyDeleteMy pet spellchecker hate is the 'z' for 's' every time!! It doesn't recognise I'M ENGLISH!!!
ReplyDelete@Jinksy: A lot of the bloggers I've encountered who were born, raised, and still reside in the USA are fervent Anglophiles -- I "blame" Dr. Who for much of that, haha -- so they often write "favour" or "honour" (to name only two) as opposed to "favor" and "honor," as a mild affectation. And -- you guessed it -- the versions ending in "o-u-r" are invariably flagged as incorrect.
ReplyDeleteI wondered if the spell-checkers in Great Britain (as well as Canada, Australia, etc.) made allowances for these differences. Apparently not. Thanks for mentioning this!
Having said all of that, one of my little affectations is the preference of "grey" as opposed to the American-preferred "gray," and the spell-checkers I encounter have no issues with that.
The entire thing seems rigged to me. When did "spellchecker" even become a justifiable word?
ReplyDeleteYour sidebar looks very nice! Thanks!
It's "Summertime" and perhaps the heat has gotten to the spellchecker too? Nothing a heart pull from a bottle of Southern Comfort couldn't cure. But Me and Bobby McGee had that figured out years ago. Now if I could just find myself a Lord to buy me a Benz and a spell check program that is based in Canada'eh? Then I'd really be laughing...as one runs off with another little piece of my heart. (My favorites in no particular order. I rock a mean Joplin version of ol'Bobby McGee!)
ReplyDelete@Natasha: Cuuuute. Nice to see you're back -- notice I didn't say "Nice to see your back," which would have a whole different meaning -- and I won't nag you for being gone, unlike some cats would.
ReplyDeleteLove to hear your "Janis" sometime...