Just how much should we trust technology? Here are some of my experiences - you decide.
I’m a pretty good speller, but I still run all my Word documents through Spell-check. But is that enough? Spell-check won’t catch words that you’ve misused or words that have different meanings if they are spelled differently, such as principal and principle, or stationary and stationery. (In these two cases I use tricks I learned in school: the principal of the school is our “pal” verses a principle we follow is a “rule” which ends in le. Stationery referring to paper, ends in er whereas a stationary object is one that stays in place so use a.) So trust in Spell-check, but be sure to do your own proof-reading as well.
Another example is the translating software. My daughter served a Spanish-speaking mission so I thought I’d surprise her with a letter in Spanish. I typed up the letter into the software program and sure enough, it translated it for me. I didn’t bother to proof read it because I had faith in technology.
Unfortunately when I told my daughter to “always teach with the spirit” and “have the spirit with her always,” the Spanish translation of spirit was “alcohol” – which was definitely NOT what I had in mind. Had I bothered to proof the letter before I sent it, I would have caught the error.
When my daughter was at BYU, I thought I’d send a valentine she and her room mates could all enjoy so I ordered a bouquet of chocolate roses from an online vendor and had them sent with a note saying “Amy, this is for you and your room mates to enjoy.” She called me and said, “What kind of sicko freako are you?” Turns out that the online store was out of chocolate roses so they sent chocolate body massage instead (which said:
“Enjoy a tasty full body massage and whatever else it may lead to.” Again, definitely NOT what I had in mind.
Bottom line: I don’t trust technology to do anything anymore.
I’m a pretty good speller, but I still run all my Word documents through Spell-check. But is that enough? Spell-check won’t catch words that you’ve misused or words that have different meanings if they are spelled differently, such as principal and principle, or stationary and stationery. (In these two cases I use tricks I learned in school: the principal of the school is our “pal” verses a principle we follow is a “rule” which ends in le. Stationery referring to paper, ends in er whereas a stationary object is one that stays in place so use a.) So trust in Spell-check, but be sure to do your own proof-reading as well.
Another example is the translating software. My daughter served a Spanish-speaking mission so I thought I’d surprise her with a letter in Spanish. I typed up the letter into the software program and sure enough, it translated it for me. I didn’t bother to proof read it because I had faith in technology.
Unfortunately when I told my daughter to “always teach with the spirit” and “have the spirit with her always,” the Spanish translation of spirit was “alcohol” – which was definitely NOT what I had in mind. Had I bothered to proof the letter before I sent it, I would have caught the error.
When my daughter was at BYU, I thought I’d send a valentine she and her room mates could all enjoy so I ordered a bouquet of chocolate roses from an online vendor and had them sent with a note saying “Amy, this is for you and your room mates to enjoy.” She called me and said, “What kind of sicko freako are you?” Turns out that the online store was out of chocolate roses so they sent chocolate body massage instead (which said:
“Enjoy a tasty full body massage and whatever else it may lead to.” Again, definitely NOT what I had in mind.
Bottom line: I don’t trust technology to do anything anymore.
2 comments:
I remember when Amy got the body chocolate. That was HILARIOUS!
If I were you I'd stop trusting technological support (the story about AOL support, your computer being next to a microwave and having to tap it with a screwdriver is the funniest ever)
Thanks for reminding me about the computer support guy. That was a ridiculously hilarious conversation. But I'm embarrassed that I was stupid enough to fall for it. I'm surprised he didn't tell me to box up my computer and send it back - because I was too stupid to have one.
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