The average computer user probably loves spell check. It allows someone to be sloppy on the keyboard and then with the click of a mouse, a passage that appears to have been typed by hooves becomes readable.
Journalists generally believe they’re smarter than spell check. In fact, as of a few years ago, the J-School at the University of Maryland disabled spell check on all of its building’s computers. Which means that a pocket of the D.C. Metro area probably enjoys unusually good dictionary sales.
For starters, spell check doesn’t catch mistakes in areas like the contraction trinity — your and you’re, there, their and they’re, were and we’re. Let’s not forget that it will never detect the always-hilarious but ultimately cringe-inducing public/pubic dichotomy (e.g, pubic servant, pubic comment period, public lice).
And there are times when its suggested spellings are ridiculous. In one instance, an absent-minded editor ran spell check, approved all the suggested changes without paying attention and posted the story to the Web, and that’s how a source with a name resembling “Kenny Cercetti” became “Query Crete.”
In a way, journalists are on the front lines of keeping machines from taking over civilization. Skynet probably got started when people started letting computers spell for them, and within a few years the entire human race was enslaved.
Spell check further reinforces journalists’ sense of intellect since in many word-processing programs, misspelled words get automatically underscored with red squiggly lines. Which is fine if using standard grammar and words. But journalists do not use standard grammar and words. Between technical language, people’s names and odd locations, a reporter’s first draft can be marked with so many red squiggles it can make it look like the computer screen was bleeding.
Topics:
USING SPELLING CHECK IN COMPUTER, computer spell check, journalism spelling list, outsmarting a spell checker, spell checked passage, spelling checker, trouble with spell check passage
Spell check can be useful when writing on a tight deadline (ex. extra-innings baseball game), but only if you look at every single underlined word and double check it yourself. The obvious misspellings are no problem. And doing this makes me double-check athletes’ names.
You’re STILL using MS Word?
People, people, people!
Scrivener is where it’s at! Get with it.
(Only partly kidding)
When we make mistakes, we don’t like to call it a spealling error. A spelling error denotes that the journalist is dumb. Now, typo errors, these are different. A slip on the keyboard – quite passable or you can blame it on the pried-off or non existant key board button!
As of May ’08, students at UMD have figured out how to spellcheck in Zoho Write, Google Docs and Gmail.
Now, if students at UMD (and everywhere else) learn to spell, that will be fantastic.
Now, if students at UMD (and everywhere else) learn to spell, that will be fantastic.