Autocorrect (Mis)adventures – Helpful or a hindrance?

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Note: I’ve moved! Check out my newer, better French site at frenchalafolie.com!

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Confession: Despite speaking so much French, it took the longest time for me to switch my media settings from English to French.

I know, and I absolutely agree: switching your settings is an excellent way to enrich your French experience. (Pro Tip: do it!)

The reason for the delay was practicality. I spent most of my day typing in English, so it simply made more sense to keep everything in that language. One pet peeve, however, was the AutoCorrect function jumping on my every move. Every French word, every accent I typed was challenged by my die-hard anglophone gadgets.

Truth be told, now that I’ve made the change, I still encounter a lot of unsolicited changes from English to French. But in either direction, what I always find amusing is when words morph into hilarious and unexpected “corrections.”

Facebook was particularly persistent about changing merci beaucoup to mercy beaucoup, transforming all my thank-yous into franglais appeals for clemency. Invariably, my mind would dig up memories of that playground game called Mercy (or Uncle). I’d remember a childhood of twisted arms and pleas when all I really wanted was to extend my thanks! Mercy merci beaucoup, Facebook!

Other curiosities:

Le monde = lemonade

qu’il = quail

soit = suit

entend = extend

parler = parlor

que = sue

métrage = met rage

oups = opus

And my favourite, when I was referring to a special prep class for an important exam:

prépa = reaper

As in the grim reaper? Can’t be a good sign!

Whatever happened to using a dictionnaire?
— Nouveau Larousse illustré (c. 1900) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Admittedly, I could do without Autocorrect. I definitely prefer cracking open a dictionary, and think the great Covfefe (no, not coffee, stop correcting me!) Incident of 2017 should have been a nail in the coffin for predictive texting. Hélas, that was not the case.

However, as frustrating as it is when I can’t turn off the spellcheck feature and have to type a word repeatedly until either man or machine desists, the consolation is that these hilarious gems still brighten my day. 🙂

What are your Autocorrect stories?