# Another Stupid (but somewhat scary) MS Word Trick

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-stupid-but-somewhat-scary-ms-word-trick/83077>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [September 21, 2001, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-stupid-but-somewhat-scary-ms-word-trick/83077 "2001-09-21T19:46:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-stupid-but-somewhat-scary-ms-word-trick/83077/1 "2001-09-21T19:46:59Z")

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Some of you may have seen some of the silly things you can get MS-Word to come up with when asking for spell checking or thesaurus entries on certain words. I’m not certain what to make of this new one…coincidence? I’ll let you decide.

You need to have Microsoft Word for this quick exercise (I’m not sure if version makes a difference but I’ve tried it on two different versions and it did).

[ul]  
[li] In MS-Word type: **NYC** (must be capital letters)[/li][li] Highlight “NYC” and change your font size to something big (like 72). This isn’t really necessary but it helps a bit.[/li][li] With “NYC” still highlighted (or highlight it again if you have to) change your font to Webdings (not Wingdings).[/li][li] Highlight “NYC” again if necessary and now change your font to Wingdings.[/li][/ul]

Pretty weird huh?

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**Author:** ![Rasa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rasa/32/3578_2.png) [@Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rasa)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-stupid-but-somewhat-scary-ms-word-trick/83077/2 "2001-09-21T19:48:58Z")

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Search, fercryingoutloud! **Search!**

We’ve seen this at least 4 times in the past week in this very forum. It wasn’t weird the first time, and it’s surely not any weirder now.

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**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-stupid-but-somewhat-scary-ms-word-trick/83077/3 "2001-09-21T19:52:57Z")

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Sorry I didn’t search. I did look around a bit but didn’t see it.

My bad.

Sorry Admins but feel free to close this thread (like you need my permission in the first place).

However, I will say that while this probably is just coincidence I respectfully disagree with **Rasa** and still think it’s weird.

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**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-stupid-but-somewhat-scary-ms-word-trick/83077/4 "2001-09-21T19:56:39Z")

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And it’s not even anything new. This has been passed around since there was a Windows Wingdings.

Robin

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**Author:** ![zyzzyva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@zyzzyva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zyzzyva)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-stupid-but-somewhat-scary-ms-word-trick/83077/5 "2001-09-22T05:46:58Z")

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Yup, and you know what else? You don’t have to change it to Webdings first, or change the size.

:rolleyes: