Monday, October 29, 2018

AUTO-CORRECT


I just recently experienced something I am sure most of you have all ready. But since I have no cell service here and don't have a smart phone some of the problems or pleasures are not on my radar.

Since my friends and family do have the magic gadgets, I do sometimes get emails from them via their phones. So far there have been no complications.

Then last week I got a message from a friend who is traveling in her RV that had me shaking my head, worried and confused.

The message stated that she was traveling with a friend and they had gone to Myrtle Beach.  Then the message got weird. She stated bluntly that her friend had her own morphine.  Huh???

Morphine?? My friend rarely even drinks. I pondered that message for a full day. I had no idea how to answer.

I thought of a worldly response to show I was cool.
"How nice that she has her own supply."
Or perhaps helpful.
"Is she at least in a 12 step program?"
Worried for about safety.
"You don't let her drive do you?"
Or just concerned.
"Is she in cancer treatment? I thought only medical professionals could administer that."

Well I was still trying to find a tactful way to answer the message when I got another one.

"I meant to say she has her own "motor home" but it didn't come out that way."

Then I knew we were victims of the devious autocorrect. Now I'll know when I get a weird message I don't understand not to sweat it but just return it with a "HUH?????"

Has your phone ever turned on you and misinterpreted what you meant to say?

54 comments :

  1. Most of the time, autocorrect is correct and helpful but it's wise to proof read just in case. Sometimes the feature is just plain goofy and hilarious.

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    1. Out to Pasture,
      This was my first experience. It would keep someone on their toes.

      Delete
  2. That is too funny. I turned my autocorrect off because, while I do make plenty of mistakes and typos, I want all errors to be my own.

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    1. Olga,
      Good to know it has an off button. I agree and will own up to my goofs.

      Delete
  3. Very funny! I hate autocorrect, it never says what I want it to say. My phone now has auto-suggest letting me chose from three possible words before I finish typing. It saves time and does not send weird words unless I tell it to.

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    1. Joeh,
      Now auto-suggest seems doable. At least you have some control.

      Delete
  4. My family enjoys all my auto correct emails. I try to check before pressing send but a few funnies get past me.

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    1. Annie,
      As long as it doesn't suggest you have a drug problem it could be funny. Now that I know about it, I will just laugh and go with it.

      Delete
  5. I turned auto correct off on my computer but my cell still has it and I hate how it mangles words and sometimes no matter how many times you try to correct it manually it goes back to the word you don't want.

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    1. Jean R,
      Now that would be irritating. Determined little helper isn't it?

      Delete
  6. Our phone has an auto-correct suggestion with three choices, and usually they are all wrong. I am a proof-reader by nature, so the messages go out as intended (or at least I hope they do!).

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    1. robin,
      Auto suggest sounds like the perfect answer. Kind of wish comments had that. Often I don't check till after it is published.

      Delete
  7. How funny! Yes, texting it does it all the time. I have a Samsung phone, so when I write Samson, it always corrects to its brand name, Samsung. It cracks me up, but is also annoying.

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    1. Inger,
      How funny that it insists on renaming your dog. He doesn't look a bit like Samsung:))

      Delete
  8. I despise autocorrect! It insisted on changing the name of my city to "Penile". I turned it off after that incident. LOL! xo

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    1. Marion,
      When I found out what was happening I Googled autocorrect goofs and most are a bit risque. Guess you really have to watch it.

      Delete
  9. I thought I wrote peaches to my mom and hit send. It said penis. She wrote back and said, dear is this really what you meant? No Ma, it's not what I mean. The peaches were juicy not the penis. She teases me about this for the last couple of years!

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    1. Peggy,
      Way to go shocking your Mom. After looking at some of the Google autocorrect goofs, I have a feeling that the program was coded by a 12 year old boy:))

      Delete
  10. HA HA HA ----love that one..... I do have all of those gadgets ---and when I try to 'talk' my message and have them type it for me ---they have a hard time understanding my southern twang.... You can only imagine what they write down when I talk!!!!!!! ha ha ha

    What a funny one ---morphine instead of motor home???? DUH...... ha

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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    1. Betsy,
      Ha ha, to bad you can't request a "southern" translation autocorrect. Hey, that might be an app worth working on.

      Delete
  11. My phone is the worst at auto-correcting without my say so. My old phone had a dictionary that allowed you to save name and words that might confuse the phone. This smarter phone does not have that. I guess it is so smart it knows when to change my sentences into cryptic messages.

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    1. Barbara,
      I know, my computer has that option and would be helpful for phone usage. Kind of glad I don't have cell service here.

      Delete
  12. My daughter has had some seriously bad auto corrects, embarrassingly so. But she is known for it, and her friends laugh. Since they are adults, it's not a bad thing.

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    1. Susan Kane,
      Glad it only happens to friends who can see the humor and not bosses, people she wants to impress or ministers. Seems like people are have too much fun with it to demand it be corrected.

      Delete
  13. Yes, happens all the time and sometimes I don’t catch them all and I don’t use a smart phone. I keep intending to turni off that automatic feature — that and the one finishing sentences with really dumb words screwing up any sane meaning. I don’t think these features were ready for prime time yet and they need to go back to fixing them.

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    1. Joared,
      I totally agree. It seems like a good idea but really needs work. Now that I know about it, I will relax and not take the meanings literally.

      Delete
  14. Yes it has with on-purpose weird replies from my kids who knew what I meant anyway.

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    1. River,
      I guess it does make for amusing emails and texts.

      Delete
  15. Voice activation dictation has led to some hilarious interpretations, but usually I catch them before they get sent.

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    1. Linda R,
      Since I have seen how Echo can misunderstand I can see how voice messages could confuse the phone.

      Delete
  16. Hahah. I'm constantly sending my daughters text that I then have to send another one because it's picked the wrong word. Just this morning I sent my partner one about the plumber leaving a "massage hole" and quickly wrote back a "massive hole!"

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    1. Joey,
      Ha ha, that is funny. You have a versatile plumber. Hope he doesn't charge extra:))

      Delete
  17. I do try and read my messages before sending them but I still manage to send some ridiculous messages!

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    1. Fun60,
      Pretty sure proof reading is pretty important but if you are in a hurry----?

      Delete
  18. Oh, sweet Patti I could probably write a book about my phone and auto-correct. It changes my words sometimes 3 times and still send the wrong word after I correct it the 4th time. I have to admit though my sister and I have had some big, deep belly laughs over some of them. We both have cell phones that change our words and sometimes it aggravates but most of the time we get good laughs over the words. Hugs

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    1. Maggie,
      Gotta say I am more and more happy I don't have a smart phone but I may be missing out on some fun moments.

      Delete
  19. I got my first smart phone this summer and love that I can talk and it turns my words into text. This can be very useful, funny or bizarre. It changed naughty dog to knotty dog and then to not here dog, happy to say I caught that before it got sent. Today I was in the park texting to my son and my phone picked up what I said to my dog and added that "No, don't go there", which I deleted. Morphine is a funny one!

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    1. Terra,
      Oh I hadn't thought about your phone picking up side conversations also. So far I haven't heard any that didn't end up funny.

      Delete
  20. My daughter once emailed me and asked if I could make her some dressing and “slippy hoes” that weekend. I replied I could make the dressing but would have to hunt for a recipe for slippy hoes. She replied “Mom!! and then was surprised to see she had written it.

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  21. Guess I should have added, she wanted sloppy joes.

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    1. Pudge 450
      Ha ha I immediately thought to sloppy joes and was wondering how I would ever again think of them other than slippy hoes:))

      Delete
  22. You certainly have gotten some interesting comments from this post, Patti. I enjoyed the whole situation myself. I now always read what I send because I've seen some doozies on my phone, too. :-)

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    1. Djan,
      Yes and I have really been enjoying the comments. I'm guessing most people keep the service just for the laughs.

      Delete
  23. Predictive text drives me batty! On my tablet it changes perfectly acceptable words into something that just doesn't make sense. My niece told me I can switch it off but I haven't quite worked how how yet!
    Around My Kitchen Table

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    1. Around My Kitchen Table,
      My email service offers predictive text which I declined for the same reason you stated. Hope you can figure out how to stop it. I had to sign up for it if I wanted it.

      Delete
  24. I'm pretty careful before I hit "send" but I often have to correct the auto-correct before then. My son's mother-in-law texts him all the time, usually about nothing. He is a stay-at-home full time dad so she figures he has nothing to do! She has a slight speech impediment and uses the speech-to-text function which usually results in total garbage. He usually just ignores it and that seems to work fine.

    Loved the story about your friend.

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    1. Carolyn,
      Ha ha evidently it doesn't handle slight speech impediments or southern accents according to Betsy. Guess we should just grin and bear it.

      Delete
  25. I love this post since I am in the same predicament as you … often my friends email from their phones and so much depends upon how the enunciate their words … sometimes hysterically funny and other times uncanny !!

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    1. Ginnie,
      This was my first experience but from now on I will be aware and just giggle.

      Delete
  26. LOL...I do have a nice new phone...and I never remember to use it.

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  27. I don't trust those sneaky little critters either....:)

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  28. Yes Patti and with my poor vision I now miss the silly word changes too.

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