Internet spell checker not efficient
By zandi458
@zandi458 (28102)
Malaysia
January 17, 2012 12:50pm CST
I am a regular user of the net dictionary as they have all the English words stored in their memory bank or what ever they call it for the benefit of those who are unsure or inadequate proficiency of English. It sure is a great help. Many times when I type my posts the red line would appear on certain words which tell me that I have wrongly spelled the words and the next thing I do is to check the online dictionary for the right spelling. One such word I used recently where the red line appeared was 'persistency'. It was stated there 'the spell checker for this application does not like "persistency" any more. 
I am at a lost to the right spelling or has certain English words turned obsolete? Have you ever come across words that you are sure is the right spelling but rejected by the spell checker? 
I am at a lost to the right spelling or has certain English words turned obsolete? Have you ever come across words that you are sure is the right spelling but rejected by the spell checker? 4 people like this
11 responses
@aghiuta (525)
• Canada
19 Jan 12
I never had a word rejected, but many times it does not accept my spelling of certain words( I know that I am right).Then I figured out that it is accepting only american English.Some words are spelled different in Canadian English( honour,Saviour and others that the Americans do not put the "U" anymore.May be that explains it!
@GardenGerty (160708)
• United States
17 Jan 12
It does happen to me as well. Often it is a word that the spell checker does not know at all. It seems to usually be medically related, if I am not mistaken. It does give the option of adding the word to the data base. I am sure not all spell checkers are like that, though.
@alottodo (3056)
• Australia
18 Jan 12
I know it can be a bit confusing some times! like if I write favourite and is wrong but I can write favorite and is right or neighbours,[this is wrong]but neighbor is right! but I know both are right...one is the American way and the other is the English way! here in Australia we tend to follow the English way...when I came to live here I was quite confused and it took me a while to learn the difference.
@zandi458 (28102)
• Malaysia
18 Jan 12
I have been in that situation and often get messed up with the different spelling of the same words same meaning. The choices are upon us which ever spelling we preferred. It took me a while to understand the Australian accent as they have their own unique way of pronunciation. For example..'I'm going there today' which is clear and understandable but the Australian make it sound like 'I'm goin there to-die'. 
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
18 Jan 12
Spell checkers in general are something that is rather flawed. There are times where something is misspelled and it offers a few choices. While technically they are potentially properly spelled, they are rather not going to be the word that they are going to really want. There are times where it can make you want to pull your hair out.
You know the word might not be spelled right. However, the spell check is rather not going to offer the right words. And there are just times where the spell checker just really is going to reject a lot of things. There are just times where we are forever rather going to be able to figure out what the spell checker is trying to tell us and whether it might be misspelled at all.
@zandi458 (28102)
• Malaysia
18 Jan 12
I am with you on this. But since we are so much influenced by the advancement of technology, paper dictionary is time consuming compared to just a press of the button and we can get the result of what we are looking for at split seconds. For second opinion I do still use dictionary.
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
18 Jan 12
I get that red line alot, lol.The only thing i see wrong w/the way u spelled it is that i think it's probably tancy instead of tency. Hope things are going good for you.
@scheng1 (24649)
• Singapore
18 Jan 12
Hi Zandi, so far I have not seemed anyone using this word in the way you spell it.
I think the evolving language has rendered certain words obsolete.
Some words have different meanings too.
One good example is the word Charity.
It used to mean love, and some older version of the Bible still uses it for love, but now, Charity has a different meaning from the past.
I think you chanced across a word that is common in the past, but the change in language means it is no longer in use.
@zandi458 (28102)
• Malaysia
18 Jan 12
After reading your response I am uncertain now to the correct spelling of this word. Linguists keep adding new English words and dropping words that they think no longer applicable today. What ever it is we keep learning and adding new words to our command of this language.
@truonggiangvu86 (34)
• Vietnam
18 Jan 12
I haven't met some word that I sure it's true but it's wrong as spell checker. I think spell checker is working very well. In your case, I looked up Cambridge Dictionary but I don't see the word "persistency". Are you confused that word, "persistence" is right, not "persistency".
@cmoneyspinner (9219)
• Austin, Texas
30 Aug 17
LOL. I think everybody has learned (whether or not they speak English) that sometimes you need to ignore the SpellChecker. I have hard copy dictionaries, lexicons and a thesaurus handy just in case me and the SpellChecker butt heads with each other. It's kind of like playing Scrabble with my husband where I just have to challenge whether what he just spelled on the board is even a real word! Funny thing. Most of the time it is a real word and he spelled it right too! 
