Help! I’m Being Held Prism by Microsoft Word!

Posted By Cliff Tuttle | August 21, 2011

No. 689

Have you noticed that  word processing software has been trying to finish your words lately?

Like in the last sentence, it wanted to complete the partial word  that became “processing”  to “procession”?  If you look at your keyboard all the time like I do because I never learned to type [it suggested “tip” ] you may not even see it happening to you. Then zappo! You look like an illiterate [it says “illiberal”] fool. Of course, when you spell check, the damn thing will never catch the idiot words because the damn thing suggested those words in the first place.

So, you end up super-proof-reading everything — looking for real, core , no, correctly-spelled words the map no sense.  [Damn it! I meant “that make no sense.”] In the end, no matter how much technology you buy, you’re on your own.

While we’re on the subject, why don’t I know how to type?  Because in the bad old days of manual [no, not “manias”] typewriters, you were only scheduled to take typing class if you were in the “business” program in High School.  That was the euphemism [hey! it corrected my spelling and used the word correctly!] for too dumb to go to college. In retrospect, who was really the dumb one?

Of course, the educational establishment  got it wrong both ways. Typing you would need big time in the future, especially after the law firm gave you a computer and fired your secretary. [The old guys got to keep their secretaries, but we were expected to sink or swim.] Computational arithmetic, which elementary school teachers emphasized, [ it wanted to make it “emphasis”] of course, became almost useless.  Electronic calculators and electronic cash registers that told you how much change to give the customer, made our in-the-head calculations as obsolete as a Royal Standard Desk Typewriter.

So now, I sometimes can’t type the proper word anymore.  But I can always spell the wrong word correctly.

CLT

Welcome

CLIFF TUTTLE has been a Pennsylvania lawyer for over 45 years and (inter alia) is a real estate litigator and legal writer. The posts in this blog are intended to provide general information about legal topics of interest to lawyers and consumers with a Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania focus. However, this information does not constitute legal advice and there is no lawyer-client relationship created when you read this blog. You are encouraged to leave comments but be aware that posted comments can be read by others. If you wish to contact me in privacy, please use the Contact Form located immediately below this message. I will reply promptly and in strict confidence.

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