Ever have your spell checker fail you?

Scott Ames · 11-08-2009, 10:37 AM

I am really puzzled. I spell checked a report before I sent it out for review. It corrected some words, but the reviewers caught a bunch of words still spelled incorrectly. I don't see how that happened. I am using OpenOffice. Has that ever happened to you?

DogScout · 11-08-2009, 10:45 AM

Sometimes there are really obscure real words close to the ones you meant. They don't show up as misspelled because they aren't. They just make no sense when read in the context of the sentence and it becomes clear you meant a different word.

for example, insure and inure. they mean 'almost' the same thing (but different enough to get someone in a legal bind), but in most cases 'insure' was what a layman meant to spell and inure was what a lawyer meant to spell, neither would be flagged by most spell checkers because they are both words and in most cases would even make grammatical sense, but mean two completely different things.

Elmer Hurlstone · 11-08-2009, 10:52 AM

Yep, all the time.

In Open Office and MS Word and the included spell checker in WP and on WF posts.

I'm not so sure it's the spell checker failing me as opposed to me failing the spell checker.

It may be a problem with mass. Relative to the size of the squiggly underline used by most spell checkers the actual word is massive. Add to that once you've typed a word it's implanted, however you've spelled it, in your mind.

You'll see what you expect to see.

If you naturally spell well it's less a problem. I don't, ergo, big issue.

Despite being a poor speller I'm a good "finder of misspellings". No, I don't know why.

Elmer

ghyphena · 11-08-2009, 11:33 AM

Scott, are you talking about the fore/four, bear/bare type of failure where the words are still real words... the no-spelling-error-but-syntax-screws-up-meaning failure (like my friend who sent out a job request letter that started off with "Dear Sir, I write to you to express great interest in the receptionist")... or out-and-out spellcheck failure where it just doesn't pick out mssqllngs?

I've had plenty of the first two, but MS Word does a splendid job of picking out misspellings and non-words (such as, you know, "copywriting")...

Gil-Ad

jacktackett · 11-11-2009, 02:12 AM

As Gil-Ad pointed out, spell checkers don't help with homonyms or with incorrect usage.

Also as much as I like OpenOffice Writer - its spell checker is not up to the same level (yet) as MS Word.

Finally - my story on incorrect usage was I gave a report at Nortel once. We were doing inventory and had not been able to locate several large switches (@75K a switch you can imagine this was a big issue). After a few weeks we were able to find all of them. So I was proud to display my power point slide where I stated

All large Assess found!

I meant Assets...but at least I spelled the other word correctly ;-)

Luckily Canadians are pretty laid back so everyone laughed.

--Jack

KimW · 11-11-2009, 12:18 PM

The best spell checker is you and your mind.

11-08-2009, 10:37 AM	#1
Scott Ames Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: West of Rockies Posts: 5,556 Thanks: 363 Thanked 665 Times in 325 Posts	Ever have your spell checker fail you? I am really puzzled. I spell checked a report before I sent it out for review. It corrected some words, but the reviewers caught a bunch of words still spelled incorrectly. I don't see how that happened. I am using OpenOffice. Has that ever happened to you?
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11-08-2009, 10:45 AM	#2
DogScout Self Unemployed War Room Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Florida Posts: 2,343 Thanks: 697 Thanked 628 Times in 373 Posts Social Networking	Re: Ever have your spell checker fail you? Sometimes there are really obscure real words close to the ones you meant. They don't show up as misspelled because they aren't. They just make no sense when read in the context of the sentence and it becomes clear you meant a different word. for example, insure and inure. they mean 'almost' the same thing (but different enough to get someone in a legal bind), but in most cases 'insure' was what a layman meant to spell and inure was what a lawyer meant to spell, neither would be flagged by most spell checkers because they are both words and in most cases would even make grammatical sense, but mean two completely different things.
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11-08-2009, 10:52 AM	#3
Elmer Hurlstone Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: FLUSA Posts: 1,331 Thanks: 283 Thanked 263 Times in 111 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Ever have your spell checker fail you? Yep, all the time. In Open Office and MS Word and the included spell checker in WP and on WF posts. I'm not so sure it's the spell checker failing me as opposed to me failing the spell checker. It may be a problem with mass. Relative to the size of the squiggly underline used by most spell checkers the actual word is massive. Add to that once you've typed a word it's implanted, however you've spelled it, in your mind. You'll see what you expect to see. If you naturally spell well it's less a problem. I don't, ergo, big issue. Despite being a poor speller I'm a good "finder of misspellings". No, I don't know why. Elmer
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11-08-2009, 11:33 AM	#4
ghyphena HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Oxford, UK Posts: 170 Blog Entries: 9 Thanks: 16 Thanked 60 Times in 38 Posts Contact Info	Re: Ever have your spell checker fail you? Scott, are you talking about the fore/four, bear/bare type of failure where the words are still real words... the no-spelling-error-but-syntax-screws-up-meaning failure (like my friend who sent out a job request letter that started off with "Dear Sir, I write to you to express great interest in the receptionist")... or out-and-out spellcheck failure where it just doesn't pick out mssqllngs? I've had plenty of the first two, but MS Word does a splendid job of picking out misspellings and non-words (such as, you know, "copywriting")... Gil-Ad
	Gil-Ad Schwartz

11-11-2009, 02:12 AM	#5
jacktackett Socrates: I drank What? War Room Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Cary,NC , USA. Posts: 1,378 Blog Entries: 1 Thanks: 777 Thanked 450 Times in 253 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Ever have your spell checker fail you? As Gil-Ad pointed out, spell checkers don't help with homonyms or with incorrect usage. Also as much as I like OpenOffice Writer - its spell checker is not up to the same level (yet) as MS Word. Finally - my story on incorrect usage was I gave a report at Nortel once. We were doing inventory and had not been able to locate several large switches (@75K a switch you can imagine this was a big issue). After a few weeks we were able to find all of them. So I was proud to display my power point slide where I stated All large Assess found! I meant Assets...but at least I spelled the other word correctly ;-) Luckily Canadians are pretty laid back so everyone laughed. --Jack
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11-11-2009, 12:18 PM	#6
KimW Cranky Old Man War Room Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Virginia,USA. Posts: 1,253 Blog Entries: 1 Thanks: 2,079 Thanked 2,002 Times in 1,140 Posts Social Networking	Re: Ever have your spell checker fail you? The best spell checker is you and your mind.
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