Tag Archives: spellchecker

The Day the Words Returned

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I was driving back from dropping Julia at work this morning when I found myself composing poetry in my head. This is the first time for months that this has happened. Probably six months. In that time I have been ill, depressed, short of inspiration etc. That’s proof – at school they always used to say etcetera meant you had run out of ideas.

My WP spellchecker does not like etcetera, so I checked et cetera. It doesn’t like that either, although both forms are considered correct by other authorities. It’s OK with etc though, with or without the full stop. This confirms my thoughts about spellcheckers and the people who develop them.  This isn’t another discussion of American spelling, more a comment on the assumptions made by the purveyors of computer software. Why is it assumed that I would want to take the language of Shakespeare and the King James Bible and consign it to the waste paper bin of history, in favour of a language which has no concept of the existence of a full length word for etc and thinks that favour is a mis-spelling?

My Orange Parker Pen

Did you find that last sentence understandable. I recall that sentences of up to 20 words are considered best. At 30 or 35 you get to a length where people have difficulty grasping it. That one has just run on to 55 words. I counted them after i found I couldn’t see an easy way of trimming it.

You are a poor sample to ask, as you are all clearly of above average intelligence (and above average in many other areas too), but I was curious to see if I got away with it and produced a readable 55 word sentence. That one is only 43 words long. Until I started looking I always thought I wrote short sentences. I’m clearly going to have to start looking at my readability indexes again.

And so, in a short opening paragraph, I tell you the poetry has returned, and in the rest of it, I ramble on. Sorry about that. However, I can’t stay chatting, I have poetry to write, and probably a second blog post to compose.

Orange Parker Pen

Daydreams of Soup and a Troublesome Spellchecker

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Generally Green Soup – broccoli, cauliflower and cauliflower leaves

I made soup today – it’s Bean Soup. Julia has a joke that goes with it, but I will spare you the agony of hearing it again. It contains onion, celery, garlic, red pepper, tinned tomatoes, water and beans. So far I have used chilli powder and Italian herbs to flavour it.It is not so much a recipe as a list of things that came to hand while I was standing by the cooker.

My latest dietary resolution is to eat more soup. This should help me maintain my new lower weight. As a result I have been listing my normal soup recipes. It isn’t really a long list.

Bean Soup 

Now we can get parsnips again, Spicy Parsnip will be on the list, plus Broccoli, Sweetcorn, Generally Greenish Soup and Mushroom. I must resurrect some of the others which I no longer make, including Pumpkin, Sweet Potato and Nettle. That’s three sorts, not one combination, though I have been known to mix various combinations of Sweet Potato, Carrot, Parsnip, Pumpkin and Squash to come up with an Orange Soup.  I’m going to have a try at lentil soup too. I keep meaning to give it a try but never quite get on with it. And Pea. I used to make Pea Soup from frozen peas but the blender tends to leave a lot of pea skins at the bottom of the pan. I tried sieving it but it isn’t really worth the effort. I may try dried peas next time.

To dd tp my frustrations today, my WP spellchecker seems to have resorted to an American format. It’s like the English one but every so often it tries to correct a word that needs no correction. I’m not sure how this has happened, but it has happened before and I have managed to get it back. I ill have to have a look at it tomorrow.

Cauliflower Soup

 

 

Senior Moment – forgot the Title!

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I’m sitting at my work computer, it’s 9.26. I have read my emails, done something for Julia online, replied to a couple of emails and am now going to use 10 minutes to do the initial work on tonight’s blog post. It’s amazing what you can do when you are fresh.

One of the emails I had to reply to was one from an editor who normally accepts my work. This time he didn’t. Not sure how I feel about that. Everyone needs a wake-up call from time to time but I can’t completely escape the feeling that it’s part of a worldwide plot to stop accepting my work. It’s a tricky one to reply to. I’ve never fully grasped the etiquette of writing to editors as they are busy (and unpaid) people and don’t necessarily want me burbling on. On the other hand, it seems rude not to reply when somebody writes to you.

So I waited a few days to compose a suitable message. Later that day I was sent the results of a competition and found that I had failed to get into the top ten. To not get a prize is expected – competition is tough. I’m always ambivalent about competitions but every so often I have a go, generally unsuccessfully. However, they count as a submission towards my target, even if nothing good happens, and count as a rejection if I don’t get a mention.

So, misery piles on misery.

Then I got another email telling me about two acceptances. I already knew about one because I’d been asked to accept an alteration to it. I had assumed at the time that they only wanted one. It seems they want two. I’d mentally categorised the remainder as “available” and thought of sending them out again.  It’s a good thing I didn’t, as it’s embarrassing to make multiple submissions.

This all shows the advantage of waiting a few days – I was in a much sunnier mood when I eventually replied than I would have been if I’d replied right away.

I now note that I have a note from WordPress – You are currently using PHP 7.4.30 which will no longer receive security updates as of November 28, 2022. Please update to PHP 8.0.0 or higher by changing your hosting configuration. In other words “You are doomed. Change something, make your WP experience worse and keep paying through the nose.”

Or am I wrong? Will an update finally improve my life? There has to be a first time for everything.

Tonight, Julia went to visit a neighbour. She took plums and came back with figs.

Meanwhile my WP spellchecker keeps trying to make me spell like an American. I’m hoping this is just a phase it’s going through as I start on the new computer.