Automated English Nannies Are Out to Get You.

These automated english nannies we have on our phones and word processing programs have become very intrusive.  When I was a teacher, students would refused to look up how to spell a word because they figured spell check would catch their mistake.  WRONG!   My personal favorite sentence from a student is as follows:

"My throat was horse."

The grade I put on his paper:  "Bee -"

Not bad, but it would have been better had he and many other students depended on their brain instead of the spell check/grammar check.  I explained to students over and over that when strangers see how written works, they make judgements about our intelligence.   They were unfazed.

I text friends frequently using my iPhone.   Autocorrect, while entertaining at times, can cause some horrible mistakes.   For Mother's Day, I bought my mom and talk & text phone.  I must keep in mind to really proofread what my texts say to her, otherwise there can be humorous tragedy texts such as those found at Damn You AutoCorrect.

I have found that these "automated english nannies" can be very helpful when you know what you are doing, but they can cause a grammatical catastrophe if you carelessly type a paper or a text.   In some cases, autocorrect will kick in before you even have the word types.   I don't like it when people put words in my mouth, and I really dislike it when my phone or computer tries to put words in my mouth.  I remind both my phone and my computer that I own them so I tell them what to do.  Sometimes when typing or texting, I think the english nannies are out to embarrass me.

In closing, be careful. . the electronic nannies are out to get you!