Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Checking if a word is spelled correctly is easy. It is providing high-quality suggestions that is hard.


Even that is hard since there are many words where a mispelling is a valid different word.


As a copyeditor/proofreader, the number of times over the years I've had to fix the low-quality (i.e, wrong) suggestions is quite large. ("he had a small plague on his desk" remains a favorite.)


   I have a spelling checker    
   It came with my PC   
   It highlights for my review    
   Mistakes I cannot sea.    
   I ran this poem thru it   
   I'm sure your pleased to no   
   Its letter perfect in it's weigh   
   My checker told me sew.
https://www.thoughtco.com/spell-checker-poem-by-mark-eckman-...


"He looked in the [car's] grove department" is still my favorite.


One of my favourites was 'rouge elephant'.


Having written a spellcheck, maybe 20 years ago for school, this is accurate.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: