Help Microsoft add local dialect to spell-check [BT broadband office]

Help Microsoft add local dialect to spell-check

Posted 8 May 2007 at 10:50AM by Simon Dickson in Email and communications

If you ever find yourself frustrated with Word's grasp of the English language, here's your chance to help fix it. Microsoft has issued a call for the people of Britain to help it compile a dictionary of the UK's regional dialects, which you'll eventually be able to download and plug into your main spell-check.

You're invited to email your suggestions to dialect@microsoft.com, including details of where the word is used, with the British Library's curator of accents and dialects deciding what will be included in the official dictionary. Judging will take place at the end of May, with five randomly selected contributors getting copies of Microsoft Office 2007 Professional Edition.

I wonder how many people actually use terms from local dialect in written communication: we all tend to have a spoken style, and a very different written style. Certainly I use words orally which I'd never commit to print - and in one or two cases, wouldn't be entirely sure how to spell anyway. Still, anything that stalls the creeping Americanisation (note the 's'!) of everyday life can't be bad. One word of warning, though: Microsoft says it won't consider swear words. That rules out most of the best dialect terms where I come from, anyway!

Tags: dialect, dictionary, microsoft, spellcheck, word

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Comments

1. At May 8, 2007 2:03 PM, lesley wrote:

what would this dictionary be used for? to be honest I would'nt really use it in letters sent out to my customers so I may be a bore but I would prefer to use the Oxford dictionary.

2. At May 8, 2007 6:13 PM, Dave Jeavons wrote:

Ar core really see the pint in this.It wo be any eus fa moost fowkes in the Black Country as non on we can rite an ony a few on we can spake proper anyroad.

3. At May 9, 2007 12:05 AM, Simon wrote:

I can't begin to tell you what my spellcheck made of that comment, Dave. :)

4. At May 10, 2007 5:34 PM, Myk wrote:

I have to say; I'd find this a welcome addition to Word. I'm a Scottish writer and frequently use words that many people may omit in their own correspondence.
And, by the way, my own spellchecker made a right mess of Dave's comment.
"Are core really see the pint in this. It woo be any us far most folks in the Black Country as non on we can rite an only a few on we can spoke proper any road"

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