Can you imagine a world without spell checker??

[jymbee]

Consider myself a decent speller. But at times, for whatever reason my brain shuts down when trying to type out a relatively simple word. For example, I recently was "stumped" when trying to spell "adamant". Uh... adi..., no... adame... no... But hey, just punch in any mangled spelling version and let the browser do the work for you:

Aha, [chuckling) I see you're having a bit of problem trying to spell this word. By any chance, is the word you can't seem to figure out to spell "adamant"?? No worries, just click on the correct spelling here in the popup and we'll make sure readers don't know you're a bit challenged when it comes to proper spelling.
​

The problem being I think it's too easy to get lazier and lazier and just let auto-correct do the thinking for you.

 

[Arch Hoagland]

I remember back in the last century trying to find out how to spell a word by looking in a dictionary and couldn't even find it because of my bad spelling.

 

[Oldgator73]

I remember back in the last century trying to find out how to spell a word by looking in a dictionary and couldn't even find it because of my bad spelling.

Don’t feel bad. I’ve typed in what I thought was a pretty close approximation of a word and the computer just came back with a “WTF!”.

 

[CharlesinGA]

All of the above are so true. I have a a paperback Oxford American dictionary laying right next to me and once in a while have to resort to it. Many times I open a new tab and start spelling the word, Google does better that way for some reason.

We all get lazy and I have a couple of words that are constant misspellings. That big state south of me that is getting ready to be blown away (again) is one. Flordia Florida.

Charles

 

[rvlifer]

before spell checkers people seemed to be able to spell better. not all but some. I am a very good speller and I always have to tweak spell checker settings so they don't do things that I don't want them to do or are just wrong. Some are better than others but most aren't that great and the worst ones make me yell at my device in frustration lol. They seem to be getting worse sometimes cause of updates that aren't tested properly. I despise the spell check on my Mac and didn't mind it so much on windows, Linux, or android. For some reason when I want to delete a word on the Mac, when I delete the last letter it also deletes the space before and I always end up with 2 words mashed together that I have to fix. I'll come up with a way of working around that one though lol.

Speech to text has come a long way and is almost better than spell check now. And I love the synonym feature in word processors. I use that constantly to make sure I don't keep repeating the same word over and over. I do that a lot lol.

found this on the internet. thought it was pretty funny

Ode to the Spell Checker

I halve a spelling checker,
It came with my pea see.
It plainly marks four my revue
Mistakes I dew knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait aweigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the era rite
Its rarely ever wrong.

I've scent this massage threw it,
And I'm shore your pleased too no
Its letter prefect in every weigh;
My checker tolled me sew.

 

[LarsMac]

I am a pretty competent speller, too, but it never hurts to doublecheck. I have started to rely on spell-check, a lot, but, it does not always get it right, either. I do, on occasion, find the need to spell-check Spell-check, Especially when conversing with friends oversees.

And, it seems that as all the browsers and communication tools become "Enhanced with AI", they need a lot more supervision than they used to.

 

[John From Detroit]

Consider myself a decent speller. But at times, for whatever reason my brain shuts down when trying to type out a relatively simple word. For example, I recently was "stumped" when trying to spell "adamant". Uh... adi..., no... adame... no... But hey, just punch in any mangled spelling version and let the browser do the work for you:

Aha, [chuckling) I see you're having a bit of problem trying to spell this word. By any chance, is the word you can't seem to figure out to spell "adamant"?? No worries, just click on the correct spelling here in the popup and we'll make sure readers don't know you're a bit challenged when it comes to proper spelling.
​

The problem being I think it's too easy to get lazier and lazier and just let auto-correct do the thinking for you.

On the other hand I occasionally say (I can't believe I spelled that right on the first try)
So how did I get it right.. Well after 20 or more times using Speil Clunk or having it so mangled evel speil clunk could not fix it and haveing to google I learned to spell it.

Another issue Speil Clunk catches is fat fingers and bouncy keys. I know the spelling. I THOUGHT I typed it properly but hit a wrong key .. hit them out of order or hit two at once.

 

[Isaac-1]

It is hard for me to member life before spell checkers, as my first word processor program had one in 1984. I remember thinking how great it was, but don't really recall life without one.

 

[Laura & Charles]

Seen on FB:
“The inventor of auto correct died today. His funnel will be held tomato.”

 

[Mr Lars]

All of the above are so true. I have a a paperback Oxford American dictionary laying right next to me and once in a while have to resort to it. Many times I open a new tab and start spelling the word, Google does better that way for some reason.

We all get lazy and I have a couple of words that are constant misspellings. That big state south of me that is getting ready to be blown away (again) is one. Flordia Florida.

Charles

Everybody knows it’s pronounced;
Warshington
Flureda
earl(as in a quart of earl)
crick(creek)

 

[workinonit]

I am a decent speller as well and still lean on spell checker. The one I hate is that little accessory that thinks it can figure out what you want to say before you say it and it is never correct but it forces the correction on you if it's turned on and you send some clueless message to someone.
My spell checker is more of a type checker. It lets me know I fat fingered a word.

 

[old RV guy]

Mark Twain said "Never trust a man who can only spell a word one way".
Herodotus the ancient historian wrote of 50' crocodiles in Africa. Had anyone pointed out there is no such thing as a 50' crocodile folks would have countered that you missed the point. He was illustrating by means of hyperbole that crocodiles in Africa are huge, who cares whether they're 15' or 50' long, it's not a science project. No one ever said, "I'm going to go inner tubing on the Nile now that I know the crocodiles are only 15' long".
Likewise who cares if a word is misspelled if the context is the same?

 

[Krazeehorse33]

Seen on FB:
“The inventor of auto correct died today. His funnel will be held tomato.”

May he roast in piss.

 

[old RV guy]

Everybody knows it’s pronounced;
Warshington
Flureda
earl(as in a quart of earl)
crick(creek)

Hee Haw had a skit where words used in the South were illustrated. Tump was: "Careful there Earl you don't tump that wheelbarrow over".

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

Likewise who cares if a word is misspelled if the context is the same?

Because it is distracting to those that can spell, and it implies a lack of attention to detail or concern for accuracy. "My breaks are overheating! "

You can't (touch) type well unless you can spell. If you can't type you are more focused on getting the message across and accuracy isn't the primary mission. If you're pecking at a phone screen keyboard it's not hard to fat finger things but even then it only takes a second to read the post before hitting send, so there's the attention to detail/accuracy thing. Since in part I type for a living and accuracy matters I'm a bit OCD about it but it's not hard to get it right, if one wants to.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[SpencerPJ]

I love spellcheck, but hate it when (especially my phone) it changes the word or spelling to something I wish it hadn't.

 

[Joezeppy]

We have a local brewery here called Saranac. I texted a friend one time "I'm just sitting back enjoying a cold Saranac brew" but spell check changed it to "Satanic".

 

[Tom]

Having grown up in the UK and attended 'grammar school', spelling wasn't an issue for me - until I joined a California company in the UK. 10 years working there, communicating with CA colleagues daily, and I subconsciously switched between versions of English depending on the recipient. 40+ years living and working in California exposed me to countless colleagues and friends for whom English of any kind was/is not the their native language.

I never learned to type (Chris calls me the 'fastest 1-finger typist' she knows), and I can't spot my own typos, although others' typos jump off the page. I don't bother with spellcheckers. For important writings, I have to put away my draft and come back the next day, reading as if I'm reading someone else's writing; The typos jump off the page.

Along came touch screens and my "oily skin" makes it almost impossible to make light contact with the screen. I subconsciously press harder, resulting in the finger (or thumb) 'spreading out' to touch an adjacent character. Needless to say, my writings are riddled with 'typos' and, by the time spell check is done, the result is nothing like what I was trying to communicate.

 

[Tulecreeper]

Don’t feel bad. I’ve typed in what I thought was a pretty close approximation of a word and the computer just came back with a “WTF!”.

I commonly go back over what I typed and see an underlined word that spell check can't figure out and I think it must be thinking I'm dyslexic because I've spelled 'what' as 'htwa'. I mean, it happens pretty regularly.

 

[msw3113]

Because it is distracting to those that can spell, and it implies a lack of attention to detail or concern for accuracy. "My breaks are overheating! "

Unfortunately, spell-check likely would have approved that homonym.
It seems that using speech-to-text software, while quicker, offers less incentive to proofread which allows more errors and more room for misunderstanding. And few users seem to care.
Language is a dynamic means of communication, so I accept that it must change. However, as one who made a living by paying close attention to words, the deterioration of our common tongue dismays me. As an example, my bank recently sent a form e-mail to customers which was fairly clear but contained the phrase "to serve U better." Sorry, maybe I'm not hip enough to overlook that shortcut but it strikes me as a kind of laziness and is hard for me to respect.