Web copywriting specialists
Google: the new dictionary?
Oh dear, I don’t know if I’m the only one guilty of this, but I do find myself increasingly reliant on Google.
Typo in your search query? Oh well, Google knows what you mean. Can’t remember if it’s ‘compliment’ or ‘complement’? Just sling it to Mr. G.
It’s not as if I don’t own a dictionary, or have access to the Oxford English dictionary online (register at your local library and you can use it for free). I’m just a victim of Google’s cleverness and my own laziness.
I don’t know if I should be doing this though – there are loads of bad spellers out there, plus sites written in American English. I don’t read as much literature as my A level days so how can I be sure what what I see is right?
Do you think the search engines might one day correct all typos and translate into different versions of English? Maybe I’d better put my pocket dictionary on my desk until then.
This post was originally published by Christine on Mon, 02/02/2009
Interesting topic, Christine, and no easy answers. There are two strands. One is that, as you hint, most of us are lazy when it comes to being as precise as we should be in our use of language – worst case is we don’t bother checking at all; better case is we ‘google’ it; best case is we look up an English dictionary. If there was one close to hand I think most of us checkers would use it instead of googling. Sometimes it’s less trouble turning the pages than trying to keep track of which sites we’ve got open and what we’re doing on screen. Second strand is the way we all use language. It’s changing all the time and since the advent of globalisation and the web, American English is increasingly eroding what we call ‘standerd’ English. Look at the number of words we see with ‘z’ as opposed to ‘s’ in them. Can we stem the tide? Come on all you dick-tionary-heads, make with the pages..
Unfortunatly I am guilty of this too. It is just a quick and easy way to find any spelling. Sometimes my wife phones me from work for spellings and it is the first place I turn to (she does not have access to a pc). Now I feel bad