WHAT an awful idea: a pen with built-in sensors that can identify spelling errors as they occur. This new invention, designed to “help” children, apparently delivers a warning vibration in the user’s hand every time a mistake is made.
Readers who are aware of my obsessive word-nerdishness might be surprised to hear quite how much I hate the idea of this ignoble instrument, invented by Daniel Kaesmacher and Falk and Mandy Wolsky. The German trio got their inventive act together after the Wolskys noticed errors being made by their son as he wrote.
“This is the moment my wife Mandy said: ‘There should be a pen that tells you right away when you’ve made a mistake’,” explains Falk.
Whatever next? Electroshock crayons to “help” very young children colour inside the lines?
Besides, where’s the fun in learning? And what about all those precious misspelt notes we moms keep for decades after the little darlings have grown up and abandoned us? No more “mum i luv yu.i want a hores and a helmit ” missives to tuck away for posterity in our treasure boxes.
In any case, why would this spell-correcting pen be any better than existing computer spell-checkers which can’t even differentiate between “their” and “there”? And what about auto-correct? The Cupertinos (that’s a zooty new name for incorrect auto- corrections) they create are still the cause of many embarrassing errors.
They’re all the fault of Americanisation, I reckon; certainly the USA was where their new name was born. When the sensible hyphen was kicked out of co-operation , leaving it looking and sounding like something you’d do to your chickens, Microsoft’s Word 97 program kept replacing it with the word Cupertino – a California town which is, ironically, home to Microsoft’s rival, Apple Inc.
So prolific at one time was that error, says World Wide Words expert Michael Quinion, that “a 1999 Nato report mentions the ‘Organization for Security and Cupertino in Europe’; an EU paper of 2003 talks of ‘the scope for Cupertino and joint development of programmes’; a UN report dated January 2005 argues for ‘improving the efficiency of international Cupertino’ ”. Ouch!
But even though I’m aware of the spell- checker’s many failings, I’m still a dedicated advocate of its use, even if it’s only to focus your mind on exactly what you’ve written.
I don’t feel the same about those too- clever-for-their-own-good smartphones, which are often anything but.
My friend Celia’s sister-in-law had a run- in with predictive text the other day when she fetched her husband of 40 years from work. She SMSed as she arrived to say: “I’m here”. “Auto-correct amended it to ‘I’m heterosexual’,” says Celia, “to which my brother replied: ‘I’m pleased to hear that’.”
But the run-in friend Rachel had with that damnable invention only last week was even funnier. She didn’t realise the predictive text was switched on when she sent a cellphone text saying she was “tired and busy”.
The recipient must have been somewhat confused – and even bemused – to read that she was “titty and busty”.
Today’s Chiel is Stevie Godson. E-mail her at
Seeing error of their ways
Readers who are aware of my obsessive word-nerdishness might be surprised to hear quite how much I hate the idea of this ignoble instrument, invented by Daniel Kaesmacher and Falk and Mandy Wolsky. The German trio got their inventive act together after the Wolskys noticed errors being made by their son as he wrote.
“This is the moment my wife Mandy said: ‘There should be a pen that tells you right away when you’ve made a mistake’,” explains Falk.
Whatever next? Electroshock crayons to “help” very young children colour inside the lines?
Besides, where’s the fun in learning? And what about all those precious misspelt notes we moms keep for decades after the little darlings have grown up and abandoned us? No more “mum i luv yu.i want a hores and a helmit ” missives to tuck away for posterity in our treasure boxes.
In any case, why would this spell-correcting pen be any better than existing computer spell-checkers which can’t even differentiate between “their” and “there”? And what about auto-correct? The Cupertinos (that’s a zooty new name for incorrect auto- corrections) they create are still the cause of many embarrassing errors.
They’re all the fault of Americanisation, I reckon; certainly the USA was where their new name was born. When the sensible hyphen was kicked out of co-operation , leaving it looking and sounding like something you’d do to your chickens, Microsoft’s Word 97 program kept replacing it with the word Cupertino – a California town which is, ironically, home to Microsoft’s rival, Apple Inc.
So prolific at one time was that error, says World Wide Words expert Michael Quinion, that “a 1999 Nato report mentions the ‘Organization for Security and Cupertino in Europe’; an EU paper of 2003 talks of ‘the scope for Cupertino and joint development of programmes’; a UN report dated January 2005 argues for ‘improving the efficiency of international Cupertino’ ”. Ouch!
But even though I’m aware of the spell- checker’s many failings, I’m still a dedicated advocate of its use, even if it’s only to focus your mind on exactly what you’ve written.
I don’t feel the same about those too- clever-for-their-own-good smartphones, which are often anything but.
My friend Celia’s sister-in-law had a run- in with predictive text the other day when she fetched her husband of 40 years from work. She SMSed as she arrived to say: “I’m here”. “Auto-correct amended it to ‘I’m heterosexual’,” says Celia, “to which my brother replied: ‘I’m pleased to hear that’.”
But the run-in friend Rachel had with that damnable invention only last week was even funnier. She didn’t realise the predictive text was switched on when she sent a cellphone text saying she was “tired and busy”.
The recipient must have been somewhat confused – and even bemused – to read that she was “titty and busty”.
Today’s Chiel is Stevie Godson. E-mail her at
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