Cautionary tale about using spell check

Many years ago, in a story that lives in infamy within the halls of the Daily Republic, the spell-check function on our computers was given too much power and we paid for it.

And I say "our" and "we" in the most royal way possible, since I wasn't involved. At all. Thankfully.

The result was catastrophic, resulting in humiliation, apologies and community shame. It remains a cautionary tale for anyone who writes.

By that, I mean if you write anything. Including emails, text messages, Facebook posts or graffiti. A spell-check function (often unavailable for graffiti) is helpful, maybe necessary. But not perfect. Far from it.

Just spend some time reading social media posts and you'll see the need for spell check. (A hint: Please read what you write before you post it.) But trust too much and it's equally bad.

Like the aforementioned disaster at the Daily Republic. It involved a list of winners for the Arty Awards, which the Daily Republic sponsored, hosted and honored. It was, and remains, a big deal in the local theater world – the local version of the Academy Awards. The year in mention, the big winner was a play called "Bullshot Crummond." The other big winner was "Pippen."

The major mistake came on the list of winners. The regular article about the actual Arty Awards ceremony was correct, with plenty of references to the night's winners by their correct titles. But the winners list that ran in the paper with the story had been spell-checked into misery and listed the names replaced by the first suggestion from the spell-checker. Over and over. And then the "correct" words weren't flagged anymore and nobody noticed.

You can probably guess what the first word in "Bullshot Crummond" came out as in print ("Crummond" remained unchanged). "Pippen" came out as "Pigpen" on every reference.

If memory serves (Hey! I was the sports editor! We just kept our heads down and hoped to stay out of trouble), the newspaper changed policies, had a public shaming and forced one person to spend an hour in the stocks at City Hall, while wearing a sign that said, "It's my fault."

The lesson was learned: You always use spell check. You never trust spell check.

Like money, spell check is a great tool and a terrible master. Use it well and it helps you avoid mistakes. Trust it too much and you wind up apologizing for what makes no sense (or worse, makes sense).

The same thing happens with auto-correct on smartphones. There are some great websites that list outrageous text messages sent by parents or grandparents that are unintentionally extremely racy or embarrassing.

Avoid having that happen to you. It can even happen to big organizations, such as The Associated Press, which had to send out the following correction a few years ago: "An early version of an Associated Press story about the David Petraeus resignation and ensuing scandal mistakenly referred to Jill Kelley as a 'socialist' rather than a socialite."

You don't want to make that kind of mistake. People will think the rest of what you write is bullshot.

Brad Stanhope is a former Daily Republic editor. Reach him at bradstanhope@hotmail.com.