February 12, 2007
Spell check
I’ve always been a fanatic about spelling words properly. I proofread everything I write several times before I share it with others, then go back and read it again, slap my forehead and wish for instant recall. I have been known to edit my blog posts a half-dozen or more times as I spot mistakes that I somehow managed to glide over with each prior reading.
Some friends are discussing spell-checker software on a message board right now, and you’d think that would be a reasonable solution for me. You would be so very wrong. I don’t see spell checker corrections. It’s analogous to being colorblind, I guess. They’re there, but I am totally unaware of them most of the time. Yes, if I think about it and make myself notice, I see them just fine. Without that directed concentration, fingers flying across the keyboard, they don’t exist for me.
There’s a reason for this, of course. I do termite inspection reports for real estate transactions in Hawaii. When I started my business I created custom templates for my reports, using a friendly competitor’s report forms for guidance. My primary software is Microsoft Word, which has a standard spell checker.
There are two types of termites that are of concern to homeowners in Hawaii. One of them is the drywood termite. I also report on conducive conditions that might attract termites. Sometimes I need to describe evidence found on a lanai or in an ohana. I may note damage to a ridgebeam or rimjoist. I have two pages on Termites in Hawaii appended to each report, followed by a one-page legal disclaimer which my insurer loves and everyone else hates. As you can well imagine, my templates are quite colorful in Word, with red and green squiggles on almost every line.
But the fun is only just beginning. Most, but not all, local place names are Hawaiian. Street and community names in recent reports include Kekuilani Loop, Kapolei, Waialae Avenue, Kokole Street, Kapiolani Boulevard, Pali Momi Street, Waipaipai Street, Walua Road, Kahala, Kuhio Avenue and Kailua Road. The people here are from many places. Some surnames that have crossed my desk recently are Nagatori, Soares, Magabee, Sunio, Heitink, Ehrnhardt, Ogino, Imoto and Lono.
Spell check just does not work in such an exotic environment. When I’ve completed a report, I proofread it, checking each proper noun, letter for letter, against the order form I copied it from. I re-read the report of my findings and the recommendations I’ve made. It’s tedious and makes my eyes burn. I still miss one from time to time. Depending on the egregiousness of the error, my anal-ness may demand that I issue a corrected report to all of the parties involved, along with an apologetic cover letter.
What’s really embarrassing about all of this is that, by ignoring spell check, I’m missing the normal typo/grammar/silly misspelling mistakes that we all make. There are words that my fingers always stumble over. One of them (yes, even after twenty-seven years,) is termites. I’m sure I’ve issued a few reports where termties slipped through. Aobut = about. Fo = of. You all have a few of those, dont’ you? Oh, there’s another. Those apostrophes want to dangle from the end of contractions. Anyone in a normal, English-speaking and -writing environment would catch them all with spell check. I’m waiting for the English/Hawaiian/Samoan/Chinese/Japanese/Tahitian/Portugese/Korean/German/Filipino/
Thai/Vietnamese/French/Spanish/Tongan vesrsion before I start paying attention again. It will need to also address entomology, pesticide chemical names, building terms and modern technological jargon in order to be a helpful tool.
Some day I may tell you about my filing nightmares.
K
Ka
Kaa
Kaaa
Kae
Kah
Kai
Kak
Kal
Kam
…
I’m on the third, make that fourth edit here. Am I ready for my public yet?
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February 13th, 2007 at 6:01 am, Marisa Says:
Skeet, honey, I do not like most MS products but I do use them. You many already know this but just in case, I’ll go ahead and mention it.
When you see the red squiggly line under a word indicating a misspelling, right click. There you’ll find the option to Add. Once you add a word, it’s there for subsequent documents, too. In that way, you can create your own custom Hawaiian dictionary.
As for the grammar check, I won’t even go there. It isn’t worth the time. Turn it off.
February 13th, 2007 at 7:07 am, Allan Says:
I hvae taht problem to.
February 13th, 2007 at 11:05 am, Whim Says:
I feel your pain (although I don’t have the problems with exotic words as much). What I find ironic is that the words blog, blogger, and blogging are considered misspelled words even in Bloggers spell check!
February 13th, 2007 at 1:02 pm, DNR Says:
I can’t spell. I’ve learned to accept it. I live by spell check.
What I can’t stand is when I spelled ‘a’ word correctly, but not a word that makes since in that sentence.
I’ve gone back and edited my posts before too. I just wish someone would allow us to go back and edit comments. My fat little fingers have stumbled over these keys so many times… ‘it’ comes out ‘to’. LOL!!
February 21st, 2007 at 1:29 am, hyphen_eight Says:
Don’t feel two bad. Even wen ewe ewes spell Czech, awed things can slip buy it. Just wait until you have a customer named Arakawa on Alakawa Street.
At my previous job I used WordPerfect. My spell checker was heavily customized - especially because I had to use the correct Hawaiian diacritical markings. I was constantly looking up proper names and place names in order to punctuate them correctly… Count your blessings!
February 28th, 2007 at 9:15 pm, Skeet's Stuff Says:
[…] related to you a week or so ago some of the problems I encounter when trying to use spell checker in a multi-lingual society. My friend hyphen8 had something to say about […]