Standing in front of the class dreading my turn at the mock spelling bee and here it comes.
Teacher: “Little Don, your word is Neanderthal. Spell Neanderthal.”
Little Don: “N, E, E, A, N, D, E, R, T, H, A, A, L…right?”
Teacher: “No, little Don, it’s spelled N, E, A, N, D, E, R, T,
H, A, L. You had an extra E and A.”
Crestfallen, I return to my seat and dread going home and
having my parents drill me on spelling that night. Spelling is my biggest
weakness in Ice Age school.
Fast forward to the 21st Century and Microsoft
Word’s built-in spell checking. Yippee!
For me being a horrible speller, I love this, and it really helps me focus on
getting my message across. Funny thing
is I really didn’t know how to use it correctly and kept seeing the squiggly
red and blue lines and was confused as to what they were telling me until I
took the module in class.
Now I know that I can correct the red squiggly (spelling) as
type or wait till the end using the Review tab and proofing group. Or the blue squiggly
(grammar) using the same method. A word of caution though, I still read though
the whole document to make sure the “word processor” caught everything because occasionally,
I still find it misses things.
I used to think my documents looked patriotic with the red and blue squiggles against the white background but now know how to clean them up as I move forward my IT journey.
Wow Don, it's a wonderful journey on spelling bee. You brought the remembrance on those days, where I was asked to write the dictated word and most of which would be wrong. I was also too week in those. Thank god, we are gifted to have Microsoft to help us in current.
ReplyDeleteDon, thanks for sharing your experience with spelling and Microsoft Word's spell checking feature. It's relatable how daunting spelling bees were back in the day, and I can imagine the frustration of getting words wrong. But hey, thank goodness for modern technology, right? Microsoft Word's spell checking has been a game-changer for many of us with less-than-perfect spelling skills. It's like having a personal editor right at our fingertips. Your journey of discovering how to use the spell checker effectively is something many of us can relate to. It's all about learning and growing, both in our writing skills and our IT knowledge. Thanks for sharing your insights, and here's to smoother sailing on your IT journey ahead!
ReplyDeleteHey Don, can't get enough of your neanderthal blog! It's both entertaining and informative.
ReplyDelete