# my spellcheck told me to...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-spellcheck-told-me-to/6040>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 11, 2000, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-spellcheck-told-me-to/6040 "2000-01-11T04:31:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 15\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![timmar68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@timmar68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/timmar68)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-spellcheck-told-me-to/6040/1 "2000-01-11T04:31:00Z")

</div>

I used my spellcheck when I emailed someone tonight and in my letter I mentioned my parents. I called them “Mom” and “dad”. I didn’t capitalize either word but my spellcheck told me to capitalize “Mom” but not “dad”.

Why would “Mom” be capitalized and not “dad”?

* * *

MaryAnn  
No, stupid, it’s a boat!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-spellcheck-told-me-to/6040/2 "2000-01-11T04:55:00Z")

</div>

My spell check must suck. I tried it a bunch of ways caps,no caps, all caps…Everytime said “no errors.”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Surgoshan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Surgoshan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surgoshan)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-spellcheck-told-me-to/6040/3 "2000-01-11T04:56:00Z")

</div>

It’s because your machine, being stupid, was stupid. I think that Mom and Dad should probably be considered titles of a sort, and thus capitalized.

Just so you know, this is my bullshit answer, nothing official.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-spellcheck-told-me-to/6040/4 "2000-01-11T05:02:00Z")

</div>

My spell checker could not care less. Mom, Dad, mom, dad, no big deal.

## **\<P ALIGN=“CENTER”\>Tris\</P\>**

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. That is the difference between dog and man.  
– \*\*Mark Twain \*\*

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![MrKnowItAll](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrknowitall/32/87_2.png) [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-spellcheck-told-me-to/6040/5 "2000-01-11T05:45:00Z")

</div>

Capitalization of “mom” and “dad” depend on the usage. The way I think of it is like this: capitalize it when I use it like a name, otherwise don’t.

Thus:

Mom said to take out the garbage.

My mom always says things like that.

This usage is supported by the capitalization section in the back of my dictionary, as well as in _Essentials of English_ by Hopper, Gale, Foote, and Griffith.

* * *

Mr. K’s Link of the Month: [Why Plastic Grocery Bags Are Better Than God](http://www.flud.com/ass/bag.html)  
“Nobody ever lends money to a man with a sense of humor.” - Peter Tork

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-spellcheck-told-me-to/6040/6 "2000-01-11T06:43:00Z")

</div>

I think it’s cause mom always comes first in the phrase mom and dad. Also, moms are female and more sensitive to status issues, whereas dad’s are usually the quiet providers.\<~~~Heh, heh, just kidding!  
Seriously, I really do think it’s for three reasons:

1. Mom is first in the common phrase “Mom and dad”
2. Mom is always mentioined in things like “Mom and apple pie”
3. Mom ALWAYS comes up when you see a famous athlete on TV. “Hi, Mom!”  
So that’s why, I think.  
Of course that’s just my opinion, I could be wrong…

* * *

“I was being honest, @$$hole, I would expect YOU to know the difference.”  
~~John Bender in The Breakfast Club.  
Talk to me, baby! [mcdsanti@hotmail.com](mailto:mcdsanti@hotmail.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-spellcheck-told-me-to/6040/7 "2000-01-11T06:46:00Z")

</div>

Oh yeah, and Mary ann…  
A schooner is a boat!!!

Did I get that one or am I dumb?

* * *

“I was being honest, @$$hole, I would expect YOU to know the difference.”  
~~John Bender in The Breakfast Club.  
Talk to me, baby! [mcdsanti@hotmail.com](mailto:mcdsanti@hotmail.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![NanoByte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-spellcheck-told-me-to/6040/8 "2000-01-11T06:46:00Z")

</div>

MaryAnneQ probably just forgot to tell you she used the two words to start a sentence in the sequence she mentioned them. The spell check merely said to capitalize ‘mom’ because it was the first word in the sentence. (Of course, that’s more than spelling checking.)

Ray (. . .or else the checker is a female sexist.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jois](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ea666f/32.png) [@Jois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jois)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-spellcheck-told-me-to/6040/9 "2000-01-11T07:19:00Z")

</div>

MrKnowItAll hit it right on the nose. If you are using mom or dad in place of their names you need to use the caps. If you are saying my mom/my dad - nope, just lower case.

Maybe Mom and Dad are considered proper nouns when used in place of their names.

* * *

Oh, I’m gonna keep using these #%@&\* codes 'til I get 'em right.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![EnigmaOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EnigmaOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnigmaOne)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-spellcheck-told-me-to/6040/10 "2000-01-11T09:28:00Z")

</div>

Inquisitive cuss that I am, I had to try it out on my software.

It replaced the nouns with mother and father, and a dialogue appeared, informing me that I had to sit in the corner for an hour.

Go figure.

* * *

– **Kalél**  
_Common ¢ for all ages…_  
“Well, there was that thing with the Cheese-Wiz…but I’m feeling much better now!” – John Astin, Night Court

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-spellcheck-told-me-to/6040/11 "2000-01-11T12:59:00Z")

</div>

Funny, I was just going to say that using mom or dad as a general noun (rather than a proper noun) is a bit slangy. “Mom, would you like some cake?” “My mother and I are excited.” This seems a bit better, though I can hear my kids in my head saying to their friends, “My mom is better than YOUR mom!” 😉

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-spellcheck-told-me-to/6040/12 "2000-01-11T14:03:00Z")

</div>

When I tried my spell checker on mom and dad, it told me to substitute eye of newt with spider webs woven under a full moon in order to mind control them into extending my curfew.

My spelling checker didn’t care about the capitalizations.

Peace.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-spellcheck-told-me-to/6040/13 "2000-01-11T14:48:00Z")

</div>

Where I work, we had a spell check on one system, that–when a person writing a document spelled “workorder” instead of “work order”–the two “choices” that it recommended changing it to were “warehouse” and “whorehouse.” Seriously.

And, there used to be a person where I work named “Felita.” Her name also gave an interesting recommendation for change. 😉

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![timmar68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@timmar68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/timmar68)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2000, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-spellcheck-told-me-to/6040/14 "2000-01-12T03:49:00Z")

</div>

No, Nanobyte…both words were part of a sentence, not the beginning of one (I thought of that, too.). 🙂

* * *

MaryAnn  
No, stupid, it’s a boat!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jois](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ea666f/32.png) [@Jois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jois)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2000, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-spellcheck-told-me-to/6040/15 "2000-01-12T04:22:00Z")

</div>

A couple of years ago my spell check (Word Prefect? 5.0? That’s a guess.) changed:

Towed Howitzer to  
Toad Howitzer

about 20 times, just before the document went out the door. God bless proofreaders.

* * *

Oh, I’m gonna keep using these #%@&\* codes 'til I get 'em right.