Spell checker misery.

[Dev]

Spell checkers should be outlawed, they just encourage the belief that you don't need to be careful and accurate in your spelling, the machine will fix it for you!

Couple of funny, relevant videos:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=plpp&v=kge9ZzjsfW8


http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=plpp&v=om7O0MFkmpw

 

[rtbcomp]

if the English language made any sense, lackadaisical would have something to do with a shortage of flowers.
Doug Larson

I feel an attack of the Uxbridge English Dictionary coming on

 

[MattF]

I feel an attack of the Uxbridge English Dictionary coming on

Not just me then.

 

[Shox Dr]

Spell checkers should be outlawed, they just encourage the belief that you don't need to be careful and accurate in your spelling, the machine will fix it for you!

If I didn't use a spell checker, most of the time you wouldn't be able to read my posts. Most of the time I know what a word looks like, but I am damned if I can spell it. Best bit is our lass will tell me, and as I type it in I know it's not right.

While on spell checkers, I can't figure out why the built in checker for Chrome will high light a word as mis-spelt yet doesn't offer the correct spelling: change one letter or add/deduct and it brings it up. yet if you paste it into Google in replaces it with the correct spelling without amendment.

 

[breezer]

Slightly off topic but one thing which i use to while away the hours of boredom is to copy the driest corporate ******** (think mission statement or urgent work email)

I then paste this into word and using find replace do the following:

Find " the "
Replace " the bas**rd "

Find " a "
Replace " a fu**ing "

Find and replace all.

It makes most work drivel worth reading and laugh out loud funny because while swearing is neither big nor clever it can be pant wettingly funny.

 

[Angusdog]

Since this is where the pedants seem to hang out, the quality of unique is binary, rather than digital, i.e. yes or no only.

David Mitchell is the king of pedantry; I love his outbursts on QI etc. It makes me happy that there's still people out there that care. My son, Sean (9), is great at spelling. Nine years old and his spelling list include words such as tranquil, simultaneous and so on. There's still some good, old school teaching going on.

 

[ajlelectronics]

Binary and digital mean the same thing, only one of two states can exist. (I think!) May have to ponder that one a bit. ;-)

 

[Robotstar5]

On a similar theme the number of times you read or see something has increased by 150% or 200% how can it be more than 100 when per cent translates as "per hundred"?

 

[mike os]

On a similar theme the number of times you read or see something has increased by 150% or 200% how can it be more than 100 when per cent translates as "per hundred"?

150% = 2.5x increase?

makes me happy that there's still people out there that care.

... there are....not there is

 

[rtbcomp]

Binary and digital mean the same thing, only one of two states can exist. (I think!) May have to ponder that one a bit. ;-)

Three states - 1,0 and off (tri-state)

 

[snowcat]

People who can spell and have a strong grasp of language , often associate those who cant with laziness a result of a poor education or just general stupidness, I think some of the comments on here just echo that for me.

I have never had any grasp of language whatsoever, I haven't a clue where punctuation (except capital letters) and full stops should live, If I didn't spell check then around 50% of my words would be illegible, I have hand righting of a 5 year old.

Despite being "Thick" I achieved A levels in mathematical and since subjects, and a diploma in Engineering, and have the ability to read music play instruments, and visualize 2D work into 3d , Languages are part of the hardwiring of the brain and to some and I include myself, the ability to portray thoughts to paper is a battle at best, sometimes impossible.

 

[ajlelectronics]

I know we are talking pedantry here and I'm all for it, but in a digital stream, surely the binary is the presence or not of mark. Therefore space would be represented by 0 OR off. Shirley?

 

[brightspark]

I know we are talking pedantry here and I'm all for it, but in a digital stream, surely the binary is the presence or not of mark. Therefore space would be represented by 0 OR off. Shirley?

whos shirley who cares whether somone can spell correctly or not or where the dots go it means nowt . if anyone criticises me been clever i just say il bat u one then see how clever u are

 

[Dev]

It's a bit like driving I suppose. You don't NEED to be good at it but it makes life easier for everyone if you are.

 

[MattF]

People who can spell and have a strong grasp of language , often associate those who cant with laziness a result of a poor education or just general stupidness, I think some of the comments on here just echo that for me.

Not at all. There can be various reasons for loose use of language. Granted, there are some idle sods who just can't be arsed to make their written text legible without deciphering, but they usually stick out like a sore thumb because they'll usually throw every excuse out under the sun in an attempt to excuse it rather than just making a slight effort.

Using the website thread as an example, something like that *needs* the text to be spot on, so whatever means necessary should be used to ensure it is. On a forum, as a different example however, as painful as it might be on occasion to read poorly composed sentences, in that type of situation perfection is not a necessity. Business or official documents and the like have no excuse for ever being less than perfect though, and if office personnel can't even do the basic premise of their job correctly, whatever their reason, then it honestly shouldn't be their job.

It's swings and roundabouts. Some things demand perfection, some don't.

 

[MattF]

whos shirley who cares whether somone can spell correctly or not or where the dots go it means nowt . if anyone criticises me been clever i just say il bat u one then see how clever u are

It would be futile attempting to correct your spelling and grammar idiosyncracies. Seriously though, people do take pedants comments a bit too seriously on occasion. After all, pedants are called pedants for good reason.

 

[brightspark]

It would be futile attempting to correct your spelling and grammar idiosyncracies. Seriously though, people do take pedants comments a bit too seriously on occasion. After all, pedants are called pedants for good reason.

just looked pedant up on google cos im thick the word a///holes spring to mind

 

[MattF]

just looked pedant up on google cos im thick the word a///holes spring to mind

That's one of the nicer names we get called. I think it must just be some cantankerous gene certain people are born with.

 

[PTvor]

Binary and digital mean the same thing, only one of two states can exist. (I think!) May have to ponder that one a bit. ;-)

More like the idea that things can only exist in discrete states, and for practical purposes you can increase the number of discrete states to any useful extent. You can have binary "decimals" and express pi in binary if you want, which is what happens within digital (binary) computers until they run out of space because of word length or more space is contrived for them. Of course, pi can never be written down completely, proven about 1760, so there's no discrete state expression for pi, just useful approximations.

What a lovely meandering thread.

 

[Wedg1e]

I have CDO. It's like OCD but I have to have the letters in alphabetical order