# Feedback please... **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [November 22, 2001, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feedback-please/94736 "2001-11-22T06:15:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feedback-please/94736/1 "2001-11-22T06:15:43Z")
I’m having some weirdness going on with my computer… it put some really weird characters into a post I made last night! So, please give some feedback on how these lines look to you guys: This was cut and pasted from MS Word: can¡¯t won¡¯t wouldn¡¯t couldn¡¯t _don¡¯t_ **didn¡¯t** This was cut and pasted from WordPad: can’t won’t _couldn’t_ **wouldn’t** This was typed right into the new reply box on the SDMB: can’t won’t _couldn’t_ **wouldn’t** So, anyone see any weird characters? If so, where are they? Thanks all! PS: all the above lines look perfectly normal on my comp… ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feedback-please/94736/2 "2001-11-22T06:27:07Z")
It’s MS Word, **Astroboy**. Why, I have no idea. But it’s the only line that is screwed on my screen, all the rest are fine. Basically, it seems to reading every apostrophe you type in as some weird code and instead inserting a subscripted i, followed by a superscripted dash ( I think that’s the right description - the i is set low, the dash is set across the top ). Weirdness. -Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feedback-please/94736/3 "2001-11-22T06:27:33Z")
On my display, the MS Word line has the weird characters. All the other ones are OK. I’m suspecting that it has to do with multilanguage support, but that’s probably as helpful as telling you that I live on the third planet from the Sun. FWIW, (somehow) my browser displays CJK characters even though I (don’t think) I installed any of those fonts. ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feedback-please/94736/4 "2001-11-22T06:38:15Z")
Thank you guys! Now that I have it narrowed down to Word, maybe I can figure out why it’s doing that…😉 ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feedback-please/94736/5 "2001-11-22T06:45:06Z")
**Tamerlane** ’s post gave me an idea - MS Word is probably automatically changing the apostrophe you type (it’s, can’t, etc.) into “real” quotes, which are not part of the standard characters on a keyboard, and this is probably causing a collision with your CJK character sets (I assume you have one). Exactly how, I have no idea, but you may want to root around in Word’s options and at least turn off this feature (I think it’s under AutoCorrection) for the time being. For a quick background on apostrophes vs. curly quotes, go [here](http://www.eyewire.com/magazine/columns/robin/apostrophe/) and [here](http://www.howardprinting.com/7_1/article2.htm). ---
**Author:** ![SpaceDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spacedog/32/9932_2.png) [@SpaceDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpaceDog)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feedback-please/94736/6 "2001-11-22T12:24:26Z")
I suspect **Earthling** is correct. If you want to test it out the setting is under Tools --\> AutoCorrect --\> AutoFormat as you type and clear the ‘straight quotes with smart quotes’ check box. Then try it again and see if that works. You may want to clear some of the other check boxes too, try it out and see if it causes problems. All this assumes that your using a version of word that has that setting in the same place as my version. SpaceDog ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feedback-please/94736/7 "2001-11-22T23:02:54Z")
I gotta run right now, but I’ll try that out later tonight… maybe that will work! Thanks **Space** and **Earth**!😉 ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2001, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feedback-please/94736/8 "2001-11-23T13:56:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Astroboy14 \* > \*\*I gotta run right now, but I’ll try that out later tonight… maybe that will work! Thanks **Space** and **Earth**!😉 \*\* OK… I’ve unchecked the “straight quotes with smart quotes” box, so let’s see if it makes any difference… The following line was cut and pasted from Word with the new settings: can¡¯t won¡¯t didn¡¯t etc¡¦. Any weird characters, anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Gartog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/22d042/32.png) [@Gartog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gartog)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2001, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feedback-please/94736/9 "2001-11-23T13:59:26Z")
> [@](#): > > can¡¯t won¡¯t didn¡¯t etc¡¦. Wierd characters subsituted with \*\*\*\*\* can_ **t won** _t didn_ **t etc** _. So they are still there, and I’m afraid I don’t have any suggestions as to why. ---
**Author:** ![Gartog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/22d042/32.png) [@Gartog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gartog)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2001, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feedback-please/94736/10 "2001-11-23T14:00:49Z")
A quick thought ,probably not relevant however, what language is your Operating System. ---
**Author:** ![GSV\_Consolation\_of\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f1d935/32.png) [@GSV\_Consolation\_of\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GSV_Consolation_of_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2001, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feedback-please/94736/11 "2001-11-23T14:01:15Z")
Yep, they are still there. You are pasting in words that are already “Autocorrected” though. Try typing them in anew. ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2001, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feedback-please/94736/12 "2001-11-23T14:08:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by atarian \* > \*\*Yep, they are still there. > You are pasting in words that are already “Autocorrected” though. > Try typing them in anew. \*\* Let me try it again then (thanks **atarian**!)… can¡¯t didn¡¯t won¡¯t still there? I closed Word, re-opened it (checked to see if the setting was still unchecked), and then typed, cut and pasted… I suspect that they’re still there… ---
**Author:** ![Gartog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/22d042/32.png) [@Gartog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gartog)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2001, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feedback-please/94736/13 "2001-11-23T14:37:36Z")
You suspect correctly . . . Check you regional settings, and your keyboard settings from under the control pannel. ---
**Author:** ![SpaceDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spacedog/32/9932_2.png) [@SpaceDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpaceDog)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2001, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feedback-please/94736/14 "2001-11-23T15:51:56Z")
Well I’m stumped now. It’s strange your symbol is being replaced by two characters (ASCII 161 and 175 in case that means anything) not just one. When you type it in word it looks normal, yes ? And continues to look normal when pasted and used on the page ? Does the apostrophe (in Word) slant to the left, right or not at all ? That and the language/keyboard questions that **Gartog** asked. I’m afraid that I’m running out of ideas … SpaceDog ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2001, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feedback-please/94736/15 "2001-11-24T03:51:35Z")
I’m running Win 98 SE, English version… at least on my home comp, which I use to do 99% of my posting. When I cut and paste from Word, it _doesn’t_ look completely normal… it seems to add a space in the apostrophed word. IE: if I type “don’t” in Word, and then cut and paste it here, it comes out “don’ t”… but it doesn’t seem to matter if I take out that extra space or not. Oh, well, no big deal… I’ll just have to remember not to write long posts in Word. I can use wordpad… Thanks guys!😉 ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2001, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feedback-please/94736/16 "2001-11-24T03:53:41Z")
> [@](#): > > Does the apostrophe (in Word) slant to the left, right or not at all ? Oh! It’s a curly-cue apostrophe, but it doesn’t seem to have a slant to it at all… ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2001, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feedback-please/94736/17 "2001-11-24T05:02:57Z")
A-ha! Curly-cue apostrophe, just as I suspected! So that _is_ the culprit - but you’ve turned off AutoCorret in MS Word, the question now is how is it getting in there anyway? Hmm…lemme root around Word for a minute…OK, now - I’m running Word XP, and under Tools \> AutoCorrect Options, there are several tabs, one of which is “AutoFormat As You Type,” which I believe is the option you’ve turned off, but there is another tab with just plain-ol’ “AutoFormat,” where “smart quotes” is one of the options - do you have that somewhere in your version of Word? If so, you’ll need to turn that off as well. Good luck. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2001, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feedback-please/94736/18 "2001-11-25T20:53:11Z")
Another couple of questions: Do you yourself see the funny characters in the “reply” box when you paste them in? How about in the finished post? if the answer to either or both is “yes”, then do you use Internet Explorer? Just a hunch. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feedback-please/94736/19 "2001-11-26T00:14:14Z")
What version of Word is this? Also, is there a point on what we can see? I mean, why can’t you see it yourself when you preview a message? ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feedback-please/94736/20 "2001-11-26T02:44:49Z")
can’t, won’t, don’t, shouldn’t, musn’t, ain’t “I have no **idea** how Miz LaRue’s stockings got into the back seat of my limosine!” the Senator protested ## Above cut-and-pasted from Word with auto-correct, smart quotes OFF. shan’t musn’t couldn’t mighn’t “My panties! The chimp has my panties!” Ms LaRue cried Above cut-and-pasted from Word with auto-correct, smart quotes ON Tested in preview, everything looks fine. Posting. See next post for results. Also possible explaination for sentence fragments. Or not. 😉 Fenris [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feedback-please/94736.md?page=2)