I first published this poem on my personal blog back in December 2004 and was reminded of it again today when reading about Google’s Context-Sensitive Spell Checker.
A more intelligent spell checker is part of a new service to be launched later this year by Google called Wave. This takes a fresh look at communication and builds something brand new. What the creators have done is rather than build on what we already have (email and IM) they started with a clean sheet of paper designing something for the way we communicate today.
This is an interesting approach and clearly the right way when, as I discovered this week, teenagers don’t know how to send a letter and never check email focusing on the immediacy of instant messaging.
The question is though whether the luddites still using email and snail mail can also be won over. Could you adapt to Wave?
Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.