Spill Chick

   Much has been said about the ability of computer programs to catch spelling errors, and it's true that such a program is a useful tool. But like any tool, it is only as good as its user.

   For example, an individual word may be spelled correctly, but if it's the wrong word, the computer will pass and move on to the rest of the peace.

  There's one.

   A member of the Irish parliament blamed the computer for not catching what she claimed was an error when she wrote in an email to colleagues that "the anus is on you," instead of  "the onus is on you."

   The error was not in the spelling, but in the writing. Each word was spelled correctly, but one was the wrong word.

   Here's another example of a sentence that will post a computer spill chick taste:

  "New is their thyme four awl gut man to came to the age of there potty."

   And of course there is the problem of British or American usage, or words borrowed from another language. And if you use "auto correct" after writing something, the machine will change words it does not recognize even if a word is spelled correctly, or if a writer is deliberately misspelling a word as a teaching example.

   So the lesson here is to use spell check but be aware of its limitations, and do NOT use any auto spell changing program.

   Editor's motto: Everyone should proof read their own copy, but no one should be the only one to proof read their copy. In addition, the machine wont flag messing worms, even if term needed is "word."

   By the way, this peace past the machines spill chick pogrom.