Evolution spellcheck (English (American))

[Aaron Konstam]

On Sun, 2007-01-21 at 17:55 +1030, Tim wrote:
> Aaron Konstam:
> > Of a English word spelled incorrectly that the spellcheck does not
> > catch. It catches all of mine so I just wondered. But I don't want to
> > make a Major thread over this. You can send me the example(s) off list
> > if you don't want to clutter up the list. Of course I can't respond
> > directly to you.
> 
> 'twas the other guy that started the topic...  But if one is desperate
> to contact me, it can be done.  However, I'll respond back to the list
> about some stuff, now, that's generally applicable to this topic.  This
> pops up from time to time.
> 
Hey look the topic was that evolution does not work on American English
(look at your subject line) and I asked for an example. Instead I get a
diatribe on how an American dictionary will not work for English or
Australian spelling. That is certainly true.

You better not tell me how to e-mail you directly. In would be bad for
both of us I think.
> I tend to make do with British spelling if I can't use Australian, it's
> generally close to ours, and certainly closer than American.  That, or
> just do without spell checking.  In all the years I've been using
> computers, it's somewhat unusual to have an Australian dictionary (or
> other checkers), so I've gotten use to not having one.  Most of my
> spelling errors are typing errors, rather than spelling errors.  I tend
> to notice them.  For the cases that I did want one, my usual approach
> was to load up a document that's perfectly typed, and add all the words
> it complained about to the user dictionary.  ;-)
> 
> I've switched it on to check British English, now, and it's flagged
> "spelled" and "spellcheck" as incorrect.  Ah, the irony...  It should be
> "spelt," to us, and spell check or spell-check, until it become adopted
> as a new word.
> 
> The usual culprits are things like color versus colour (British and
> Australian spelling), metre and litre (correct original spelling, by
> those who invented the terms), and words ending with ise/ize (most
> Australian words end with ise - like advertise, but I believe the Brits
> have gravitated towards using ize endings).  So you can see, we really
> do need individual dictionaries, not picking one that's sort of similar.
> 
> -- 
> (Currently running FC4, in case that's important to the thread)
> 
> Don't send private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored.
> I read messages from the public lists.
> 
--
=======================================================================
A manager went to the master programmer and showed him the requirements
document for a new application. The manager asked the master: "How long
will it take to design this system if I assign five programmers to it?"
"It will take one year," said the master promptly. "But we need this
system immediately or even sooner! How long will it take it I assign ten
programmers to it?" The master programmer frowned. "In that case, it
will take two years." "And what if I assign a hundred programmers to
it?" The master programmer shrugged. "Then the design will never be
completed," he said. -- Geoffrey James, "The Tao of Programming"
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Aaron Konstam telephone: (210) 656-0355 e-mail: akonstam at sbcglobal.net