NationStates Jolt Archive

Try this.

Open up Microshaft Word (Im using Word XP) and type in "Organise", "Civilisation" or "Theorise". That lovely British English style of spelling will automatically be changed to the American "Organize" etc. WITHOUT EVEN ASKING YOU. Furthermore, if you change it back, it does that little red squiggly line and shows up as a spelling error, and if you're like me you'll find that little squiggly red line very annoying indeed.

So? you say...I could just change the language settings to my native Australian English and that would be fixed? Not so. It's treated the same. Its a conspiracy to flood the world with crappy American spelling...soon we'll be spelling colour as color...and pronouncing "herb" as "erb"...who knows where it will end!

And yes, I realise I could just add organise to the spellchecker, but that's not the point. I didn't even realise (umm, sorry Mr. Gates, I mean realize) until I had printed out what I was working on and reading over it.

Come-on Non-American English speakers! We need to fight the power, or your aunts will become ants!

Just set it to English English.

Better yet turn off AutoCorrect. It's a crutch. You'll spell better in the long run without it.

Even better yet, just use OpenOffice (www.openoffice.org). Microsoft sucks.

I get that red line regardless of how I type it.

I can already spell almost perfectly (Bignoting myself, aren't I :p), so i've already turned the damn thing off (I just installed it last night, been using Office 97 beforehand and didn't have that problem.) Just one of those little things that annoy me I guess.

I occasionally use British English- mainly, I spell defense as Defence. It seems classier to me.

Kanabia - I can symathise to a degree. Micro$oft seem to make it harder to override the defualt US English settings with each new generation of software they release.

But, of greater concern to me - is that M$ products (especially the various Windows OS), almost wihtout fail present you with a "Yes to all" option when what would be far more useful would be a "No to all" option, and vice versa...

It doesn't do it with Word 2000 but it does it with the word Organisation ...

I just tested this and it worked fine. The spell-checker won't go backward, so if you change languages in the middle of a document, you have to do a search and replace to correct anything entered before you made the language change. But everything entered after I changed the language in my test was fine: wasn't changed to American English, no red line.

BTW, if you hate Microsoft so much, why do you use their products? Why don't you use a good Australian-made word processing program? Oh, that's right...there aren't any!

Resistance is futile...you will be assimilated! :D

Hmm, defence and defense are both acceptable. Odd.

New Fubaria- So true...

Strangely when I was at school (a long time before MS word existed and in the UK) I was taught that either the z or the s spelling, it's just since MS has come along and told us that the z is American English and the s correct English that this has come along.

I just tested this and it worked fine. The spell-checker won't go backward, so if you change languages in the middle of a document, you have to do a search and replace to correct anything entered before you made the language change. But everything entered after I changed the language in my test was fine: wasn't changed to American English, no red line.

BTW, if you hate Microsoft so much, why do you use their products? Why don't you use a good Australian-made word processing program? Oh, that's right...there aren't any!

Resistance is futile...you will be assimilated! :D

I use their product because I CBF with Linux...I like to play games too, you know? And there isn't exactly an alternative for Windows. (Though i might look into that openoffice)

And I cant seem to stop it changing it in mine...Even setting it to English (UK) does the same thing! (After closing word and opening a new document as well)

Just set it to English English.

I agree.

I agree.

See above. Didn't work- But it's now showing up that i'm using US English, Australian English and UK English at the same time. WTF? Ahh, stuff it.

I use their product because I CBF with Linux...I like to play games too, you know? And there isn't exactly an alternative for Windows. (Though i might look into that openoffice)

And I cant seem to stop it changing it in mine...Even setting it to English (UK) does the same thing! (After closing word and opening a new document as well)

I was just kidding with you, actually. I like some MS products, others are crap. I use OpenOffice, and it's actually quite good. If you want to fight Microborg, I would highly recommend it.

Yeah, it sucks that there aren't any good games that run on Linux. :mad:

There are a few settings that could be effecting you (e.g., multi-language editing). If I can get time I'll try and look into it a little deeper. However, I'm using Word 2000.

See above. Didn't work- But it's now showing up that i'm using US English, Australian English and UK English at the same time. WTF? Ahh, stuff it.

Sounds like you have multi-language editing turned on. Look it up in help and see if that's the problem.

There are a few settings that could be effecting you (e.g., multi-language editing). If I can get time I'll try and look into it a little deeper. However, I'm using Word 2000.

Aha! I changed the default language in control panel. It should work now. Why wasn't I given this option during install?

Its a conspiracy....grr.

Try this.

Open up Microshaft Word (Im using Word XP) and type in "Organise", "Civilisation" or "Theorise". That lovely British English style of spelling will automatically be changed to the American "Organize" etc. WITHOUT EVEN ASKING YOU. Furthermore, if you change it back, it does that little red squiggly line and shows up as a spelling error, and if you're like me you'll find that little squiggly red line very annoying indeed.

So? you say...I could just change the language settings to my native Australian English and that would be fixed? Not so. It's treated the same. Its a conspiracy to flood the world with crappy American spelling...soon we'll be spelling colour as color...and pronouncing "herb" as "erb"...who knows where it will end!
At least we don't say "leftenant". Where the fuck is the "f" in "lieutenant"?

Anyway, just use Corel WordPerfect. No problems there. And if you find the OEM version, it's about $200 cheaper than MS Office OEM.

Yup, all fixed. Stupid Microshaft.

Anyone here use Internet Exploiter?

At least we don't say "leftenant". Where the fuck is the "f" in "lieutenant"?

We don't say leftenant over here. I totally agree with you on that one!

It's not that one is "classy" or not... it's that one is correct :)

How the hell can someone say the American spelling is more correct?

A. We come from England!
B. We use the SAME LANGUAGE
C. You need another reason???

It is the SAME LANGUAGE--no linguist is going to call it a new language. So why on earth is it different? It makes no sense. Maybe they will all realise it's the proper spelling :)

And perhaps one day they too shall convert to metric...

And perhaps one day they too shall convert to metric...

That's funny. I use metric, being in a scientific/engineering field. When I use it in conversation, I often get uncomprehending, glazed looks. :)

That's funny. I use metric, being in a scientific/engineering field. When I use it in conversation, I often get uncomprehending, glazed looks. :)

I just don't understand why the USA doesn't want the change. The imperial system confuses me to hell and metric is actually logical...

It is the SAME LANGUAGE--no linguist is going to call it a new language. So why on earth is it different? It makes no sense. Maybe they will all realise it's the proper spelling :)
I think the difference goes back to Noah Webster. He was a radical revisionist when it came to spelling -- some of his suggestions make me laf. :) Others, however, were more modest and came to be accepted. Basically, there are two reasons why Americans drop the 'u' from 'colour': With one less letter, it's a bit faster to write and type. The 'u' makes the word look (horror of horrors) FRENCH! And we can't have that in the land of freedom (fries)!Of course, it's a drop in the bucket considering how many bizarre spellings there are in the English language. But what can you expect when you combine Greek, Latin, French, and some hybrid Dutch/German/Norse language that couldn't even decide on a syntax?

As for which spelling is 'correct,' it's a matter of residence and taste. There is no need for only one correct spelling; the last time I checked, the word 'iodine' (or 'iodin') has two correct spellings, even in the same dialect. You might as well ask why nobody (not even the paragons of spelling, the Brits) spell 'worlde' correctly. It comes down to a matter of British imperialism, which, as a retarded and obese American, I will never understand. It's too confusing for me to follow why most Brits crave the return of the Empire yet are irratated with some of its products (like the United States).