Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Musing About Spell Check

I have often wondered why we don't have autocorrect on computers like we do on phones. It's not that I particularly desire this feature, you understand, but I do wonder at the lack.

Autocorrects are not always helpful, and they can be pretty funny. There are many examples online. Some seem to be contrived but who knows? Of course, the majority seem to involve bathroom or sexual humour, and they tend to be the funniest, but here's a pretty innocuous one for the pure amongst you all.

going to get drunk

Although we may be suspicious of the authenticity of some of the examples that we see online, this really does happen. Like the time I texted Shauna that I was taking Rona Ice Time for a backache. I had been trying to type Robaxacet.

Or take my neighbour who texted his wife about being bone donkey at work. He had been trying to write something about boredom, but it came out as bone donkey. Try as he might with various keystroke combinations, he could never replicate that autocorrect and doesn't know what keystrokes he must have hit.

Although I am not pining for the implementation of autocorrect on computers, I still wonder why we don't have it.

I do notice, however, that realtime spell checking is getting very good. Almost every time that I click on a word with a red squiggly, I am presented with the correct choice, so a simple click or two almost always fixes the typo now. It seems to me that it has not been so accurate in the not-too-distant past.

This is in the Chrome browser, but I must assume that they are all getting better. Chrome is even making more and better grammar suggestions. I am not a very proficient keyboarder and often reverse my letters, but the checker will often sense the context and highlight with a  green squiggly a word such as form where from would fit much better. That is pretty good artificial intelligence.


13 comments:

Jenn Jilks said...

I cannot stand autocorrect!

I don't think we need it on computers. The tedious nature of typing on a phone drives me nuts!

Goldendaze-Ginnie said...

All this techy stuff boggles my mind. Somewhat along the same line I have a friend who never types an email .. she talks it into her phone and there's no auto-check there. It can be very funny but sometimes very confusing. Ugh.

Marie Smith said...

I don’t type on a phone. I rarely use mine, only if absolutely necessary. I figure I deserve time unconnected to technology. How did we ever manage in the old days?

Shammickite said...

The auto correct can be useful as well as being extremeley annoying, There I spelled extremely wrong and the computer didn't correct me!

Christina said...

I have disable auto correct on my computer, there is too much room for embarrassment. I do love the squiggly red lines, they are really useful for someone who is never quite sure how to spell English words. Have a good day.

Barbara Rogers said...

It does depend upon your programs...I've got a Mac and an old Toshiba with Microsoft, both of which are set to do spell correct. On my phone I have disabled autocorrect, but I turned it back on becaue I preferred how it finished words for me so I didn't have to type the whole thing. I think that's also a choice in my gmail settings...or maybe on the internet program Firefox. I don't like Chrome...some limitation that I've forgotten. Anyway, I am amazed how fast kids text each other, and am pretty sure it's because they get their words automatically put up for them to choose and don't type the finishing of any of them.

Tabor said...

i have the free simple version of some grammar application called Grammerly and it does work 90% of the time.

Red said...

I make the same typing errors.

Joanne Noragon said...

I hate the way spell check think it knows what I think, and goes back and changes my word on it damn own volition.

Mara said...

I write in British English, but my spellchecker is in American English. So realise will always get a red squiggle, because I spell it with an s instead of a z.
Sometimes words are a bit weird though: gynaecologist will always get a red squiggle, but according to all the dictionaries, I spell it correctly! Go figure!

I have turned off auto-adjust or whatever it is called, as it was getting me in a real huff every time I tried to use it!

William Kendall said...

I like having it on my phone.

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

I am not always fond of auto correct on my phone and often it seems I spent more time trying to make it understand that I REALLY wanted to spell a word in a certain manner or use one it didn't understand...can get very frustrating.

dellgirl said...

I'm not a fan of auto-correct. It's so frustrating. I dislike "talk-to-text" even more. That thing comes up with the dummmmest replacements for what I actually said, it's discombobulating.

I've had "talk-to-text" since 2015 and it continues to put Chase for Jace more often than not. Go figure!