I have a spelling chequer,
It came with my pea sea,
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye cannot sea.
When eye strike a quay, right a word,
I weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar wright
It shows me strait aweigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid
I nose bee fore two late
And eye can put the error rite
Its rarely, rarely grate.
I’ve run this poem threw it
I’m shore your pleased two no,
Its letter perfect in it’s weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.
-anon
I discovered this while going through my latest editing course readings today, and I thought it was worth sharing. It really is so important to NOT rely solely on your spellchecker. He’s a sneaky bastard with a cruel agenda to make you look like a thickheaded illiterate on crack. Why risk leaving your intellectual capacity in the hands of something that doesn’t even have EYES? I can assure you your brain is far more intelligent than his (despite his claims otherwise). So for goodness sakes people, use and abuse that spell checking scoundrel where you must, but proofread, proofread, proofread!
~storytelling nomad~
storytelling nomad 
Love it! I do a lot of my posts on my phone, meaning it’s extremely easy to mistype something. Thanks for sharing what you found!
I tried once to write a post on my phone but found it too unsettling to type without my keyboard. I failed miserably, so am impressed by anyone with the talent to post on-the-go!
Ha! Love it!!
Me too…It’s not a bad way to show those spell-checking worshipers the errors of their ways!
Amen!
I knew you’d be with me Angela. I have been meaning to mention how impressed I was by the editing on Phoenix Feather. In the ENTIRE book I only noticed one mistake…which is just extraordinary!
When I was doing copy edits on my Fullerton University history journal this was a big thing I told everyone– do not trust it. I suggested that they turn it off and read through it without the spell checker indicating iffy words, to get into the practice of doing it themselves.
There’s also another bit problem with spell and grammar checkers– if you’re doing a fiction novel, you don’t *want* everyone talking the same way, even if it is “correct”.
That is a very good idea. I have my spellchecker on, but it doesn’t auto correct words, which I think is the biggest mistake people could make. How will you ever learn if it keeps correcting everything for you? I find reading aloud is the best way to proofread, because you’ll usually stumble where there’s a mistake because you’re forced to read every word and not just skim it and see what you expect to see.
I agree with you about writing fiction too. I’ve noticed the grammar checker is a staunch disbeliever of the passive voice, which is just ridiculous when you’re writing fiction! And like you say, each character has a different voice, so correct or not, agreeing with that spellchecker is often going to work to your disadvantage!
Thanks for your comment!
Love it. :)
Thanks Jo, me too!
Haha! I remember reading this many years ago, and I’ve never trusted my spell-checker since!
And I don’t care what he says, my name is NOT spelt incorrectly, so get that red squiggly line the hell out of there!
;)
Ha! Yes, he’s a real bastard about my name too. You’d think we’d know better, but he is so bloody adamant!
In a weak attempt to be funny: Word!
And also: http://www.verbali.se/?p=121
Lol. Also, pass my compliments on to “Kiwi”. She echos my thoughts exactly!
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