Google is NOT a spell checker

My daughter’s “computer class” teacher instructed the children to type words into Google when they weren’t sure about the correct spelling, and if Google doesn’t come back with a “Did you mean…” and offer an alternate spelling, then obviously the word was spelled correctly.

I discovered this while I was proof reading my daughter’s essay. She had the usual smattering of misspelled words, but then she had a word in French, replete with acute accents over the e’s. Yes, I said French. They weren’t spelled *wrong*, they were just spelled correctly in French.

Me: How, praytell, did you manage to come up with that spelling for necessary?

G: I spell checked it in Google.

Me: You did what?

G: I typed it into Google, and Google said I must have meant “nécessité“.

Me: You can’t spell check stuff in Google. That’s not what it’s for. Good grief. Who told you that? For the love of God, use a dictionary.

G: Like dictionary.com?

Me: Yes.

G: How do you spell dictionary?

*Sigh* I can’t quite decide if I should just file this away for the next time the teachers start crying about how they aren’t paid enough, or if I should go to the school and have a little tête-à-tête with said “computer class” teacher and explain to her why having the young skulls full of mush check spelling in Google is a horrible idea.

Subscribe & Connect

Sign up for our newsletter for news about Search Engine Optimization, Social Media and upcoming training dates. See how SEO and SMM can benefit your business.

2 Responses to “Google is NOT a spell checker”

  1. poopegifts_com March 15, 2007 at 4:26 pm #

    Get on that teacher. Take them to the whole. What a DA.

  2. webprofessor March 16, 2007 at 7:28 am #

    lol.. thats what I do most of the time but yeah teaching kids who don’t know better that the suggestion is 100% correct is pretty dumb.

Leave a Reply