Words Lost to Spellchecker

I've spent the last week or so wasting a lot of time reading stories and things online, and I've come to the conclusion that certain words are being lost to our society because of our reliance on spellcheckers. The most notable of these "lost words" is the word "definitely". It has completely disappeared, replaced by the apparently more spellcheck-friendly "defiantly". This change has appeared in dozens of stories, all by different authors, so it is not an isolated event. It has come to the point that if I see the word "defiantly", I read it to myself as "definitely". Which leads me to wonder if I would even recognize "defiantly" if it were to appear correctly in context. I may have to stop and think about it. Hmmm. Maybe "defiantly" is the lost word...

Once I became terribly excited to see the word "definately" before I realized that it was incorrectly spelled, and only closely resembled the correct word because that particular author had neglected to run spellcheck on her work. Ah, sigh. Thank heavens for the work of copyeditors in most printed/published works.

In case anyone wonders, I only rarely use spellcheck (never on my blogs), and then very carefully checking the context before accepting recommended changes. Most of the time my spelling errors are the fault of my atrocious typing "skills", though some of my classes on the history of the language did a number on my ability to recognize standard forms, and I find myself having to look up correct spellings more after college than I ever did before.

So there's my rant for the day and a caution. Beware the use of the spellchecker, and always reread to make sure of the context. Has anyone else noticed other words that have fallen victim to the plague of the spellchecker? I know there are more. Maybe I'll start up a collection.

I can't believe that I would see the day that I would cross over to the dark side and join the Grammar Police. But here I am. :o)

Another Good-Bye

Halloween 1991. I was in 7th grade, just turned 11 years old. I went Trick-or-Treating with my sister and her boyfriend. I was a witch, she was a princess, and he was a...flasher. Not quite as bad as it sounds. Quite. As the evening wound to a close, we noticed a persistent follower. A tiny little ball of fluff with a major motor. We brought our follower inside with us. She was the most beautiful little kitten--a perfect blend of siamese and tabby. She was so happy and sweet. Whenever anyone even entered the room, her little motorboat purr would start. It didn't take much to convince mom to let us keep her--especially once we found out that her owner wasn't even aware of the new litter of kittens.

Over the years, we also had visits from her brothers--Leo, who looked completely tabby (though strangely the stripes were made up of spots) and Sia, seeming completely Siamese. But Spook was always the best. The perfect combination. Eventually I grew up and moved away, and Spook quietly moved on to old age, keeping my parents company. My little family returned and disturbed her final years with wild and crazy little girls and dogs and new cats, but Spooky remained the regal queen over the household.

Now I am nearly 30, and the time has come for me to say goodbye to my sweet Spooky. She has been old and fragile for quite some time. This morning, though, her body gave out. Her stiff hind legs refused to move at all. She seemed alert, though somewhat confused at her traitor body not responding to her commands. But the time had come, and I held Spook on the way to the vet and watched as my mom held her for her last moments as the vet administered the anesthetic that would help her to drift away from the pain. The little motorboat kitten was still purring as she spent her final moments with the family she loved for nearly 2 decades. I drove my weeping mother home as we left behind her beloved old friend.

And now I say good-bye to my old friend. Farewell, sweet Spooky. Thank you for being a part of our family.

I Hate Today

Was really tired today, so Terry took the girls to church and let me go back to bed. After a short nap, I discovered I was bleeding, so called Terry home and we went to the hospital. 6 hours in the ER later, I'm home, but with no good news at all. Not that I expected any good news.

So tomorrow morning I go back to the doctor to see how everything ends. And I have to somehow comfort my baby who is heartbroken that she will never be a big sister. But after a dozen pregnancies, I am completely done for. This one was my big experiment to see if taking the oodles and goodles of medicine would do any good. And I guess not.

I'm going to try to post quite a bit for the next week or two to cover up this awful day as soon as I can. But for now, here it is...