Fun with Mr. Spell Checker
Now admittedly, I have some talents and not others. I'm good with numbers. I can wrap my head around a fair amount of chaos theory and if the wind is blowing right, I may be able to whip off a (Careful, lads.) a neat socio-political sentence with a bit of economic theory thrown in. However, I can't spell. Never has been my strong point. I did well on spelling tests in school only because I would study the words until 10 seconds before the test, hope the order of the letters stayed in my short term memory, and get them on the page as fast as possible. It may be that subconsciously, I always figured when I'm actually writing, I can just look them up or press that lovely "spell check" option that is so ubiquitously present in any kind of word processor.
So Mr. Spell Checker and I are good friends. Lovely friends. We amuse each other. I only presume that Mr. Spell Checker is amused by me but it certainly amuses me. Sometimes, just for fun, I take all the suggestions made by Mr. Spell Checker just to see what the nice piece of software really thinks I writing about. For example, the following paragraph seems clear enough to me.
Here in Far Point1, NY, spring comes late, quite late. For that reason my current whip2 is a nice heavy sweater called the Big Sack Sweater by Jenna Wilson (with only a few alternations by me, Shoreline3). Having largely grown-up in the 's4, the genesis of my style sense involved over sized shirts (and bangs). Although I can now feel comfortable in fitted garments (and no bangs), my comfort food of clothing, my chicken noodle soup of accouterments is still anything large and boxy. So, I'm looking forward morphing this into a Fro5 for myself and wearing it on those cold-in-the-morning-cold-in-the-evening days when one needs a little wool.
My commentary on Mr. Spell Checker's corrections:
1. "Far Point" : Nice Star Trek TNG reference in the first sentence. Thank you, Mr. Spell Checker. Mr. Spell Checker knows I'm a total sci-fi geek.
2. "Whip": Really? Whip?
3. "Shoreline": I did throw my name in a bit gratuitously, but for years I've put up with it suggesting "shoreline". Actually, there are other less generous spell checkers out there that suggest "shadily". Mr. Spell Checker is silent if I spell my name "Cherilynn" or even "Sherilyn". So here's my official acknowlegement, yes, I know my name is spelled a bit oddly. I have spent my whole life spelling it for people -- I get it. By the way, I really do like my name.
4. " 's ": Admittedly the 80's were a pox on the face of fashion. But must we eliminate them totally?
5. "Fro" : Sometimes Mr. Spell Checker does confuse me with references to hair styles.
Here's my progress on the Big Sack Sweater front:
Details: Ecological Wool by Cascade in the mysteriously named color "9008".
Pattern: Accurate and a quick knit.
So Mr. Spell Checker and I are good friends. Lovely friends. We amuse each other. I only presume that Mr. Spell Checker is amused by me but it certainly amuses me. Sometimes, just for fun, I take all the suggestions made by Mr. Spell Checker just to see what the nice piece of software really thinks I writing about. For example, the following paragraph seems clear enough to me.
"Here in Fairport, NY, spring comes late, quite late. For that reason my current WIP is a nice heavy sweater called the Big Sack Sweater by Jenna Wilson (with only a few alternations by me, Sharilyn). Having largely grown-up in the '80s, the genesis of my style sense involved oversized shirts (and bangs). Although I can now feel comfortable in fitted garments (and no bangs), my comfort food of clothing, my chicken noodle soup of accouterments is still anything large and boxy. So, I'm looking forward morphing this into an FO for myself and wearing it on those cold-in-the-morning-cold-in-the-evening days when one needs a little wool."
But Mr. Spell Checker "suggests" the following corrections...Here in Far Point1, NY, spring comes late, quite late. For that reason my current whip2 is a nice heavy sweater called the Big Sack Sweater by Jenna Wilson (with only a few alternations by me, Shoreline3). Having largely grown-up in the 's4, the genesis of my style sense involved over sized shirts (and bangs). Although I can now feel comfortable in fitted garments (and no bangs), my comfort food of clothing, my chicken noodle soup of accouterments is still anything large and boxy. So, I'm looking forward morphing this into a Fro5 for myself and wearing it on those cold-in-the-morning-cold-in-the-evening days when one needs a little wool.
My commentary on Mr. Spell Checker's corrections:
1. "Far Point" : Nice Star Trek TNG reference in the first sentence. Thank you, Mr. Spell Checker. Mr. Spell Checker knows I'm a total sci-fi geek.
2. "Whip": Really? Whip?
3. "Shoreline": I did throw my name in a bit gratuitously, but for years I've put up with it suggesting "shoreline". Actually, there are other less generous spell checkers out there that suggest "shadily". Mr. Spell Checker is silent if I spell my name "Cherilynn" or even "Sherilyn". So here's my official acknowlegement, yes, I know my name is spelled a bit oddly. I have spent my whole life spelling it for people -- I get it. By the way, I really do like my name.
4. " 's ": Admittedly the 80's were a pox on the face of fashion. But must we eliminate them totally?
5. "Fro" : Sometimes Mr. Spell Checker does confuse me with references to hair styles.
Here's my progress on the Big Sack Sweater front:
Details: Ecological Wool by Cascade in the mysteriously named color "9008".
Pattern: Accurate and a quick knit.
This reminds me of an email I received from a customer once. I dug it out of the archives...
"I have rerun the SITETRANBD feed - should be ready for tonight's
load. Sorry for the incontinence."
... Now, I was quite sure incontinence wasn't the real issue. Sure enough, he sent another message exactly one minute later:
"Damn spell checker.....
Sorry for the inconvenience"
Love, DH
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DH's anecdote made me laugh loud enough to scare the kitten.
This blog touches close to home for a good 'ol fashioned English geek. Spellcheck, for me, causes more problems than it's worth--once, in high school, I accidentally sent a love letter to Cat Phlegm instead of Caitlaegn.
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Oops--I hit post rather rashly.
I was also going to suggest trying a similar experiment with the Grammarcheck feature if your word processor has one. Not only is it sometimes hysterical, but it's usually mystifying. In addition to sucking the character from any writing sample, it's copped its syntax from a language other than English.
Grammarcheck is quite seriously nearly never correct and, considering how many people swear by it, I'm starting to think that factors other than an appalling amount of television are responsible for loosening the average American's already tenuous grasp of the language.
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Far Point Station!! I love Mr. spell Checker. This entry is hysterical! The comments are just riotous! (Trying to impress you James with more descriptive words) My first comment on a blog oooo.. I am special, no really I am.
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