To celebrate my millenial post I thought I’d pop into MPSIMS and post some, well, MPSIMS…
To all of those familiar with predictive texting, skip this paragraph, for all others this is what it is: Predictive Texting is a facility provided on many mobile phones to allow users to key in text messages quickly. Everyone I assume is familiar with the key associations:
2-abc
3-def
4-ghi
5-jkl
6-mno
7-pqrs
8-tuv
9-wxyz
In “regular” texting the word CECIL would be spelled thus: 222 33 222 444 555
Predictive texting allows the user to hit each repeated key just the once, the software then looks for matching patterns in the database, so CECIL would be spelled 23245. However, and this is the crux of my post, the “predicted” word is not always unique, in fact this is the case with CECIL which has a similar pattern to the acronym AFAIK (“as far as I know”), which is also in my dictionary, and the user must make extra keystokes to “scroll” through the matches to select the desired word.
I am proposing to make a collection of Prective Texting homographs, pairs of words that share the same keystokes. They are particularly interesting because of the potential for amusing/embarrassing/downright dangerous typos.
Some are boring, or merely annoying: OF=ME
Some seem to hint at some hidden resonance: AFAIK=CECIL
Some frustrating: DUAL=FUCK* (I mean, I NEVER use the word DUAL! C’mon!)
Some border on the surreal: KICK YOUR PUPPY=LICK YOUR PUSSY
There, I’ve started you off, teeming millions, do your worse.
Also, I will award a small and intangible prize to anyone who can suggest a good name for the phenomenon, “Predictive texting homograph” just ain’t snappy enough to catch on…
The Great Unwashed
*FUCK is not in the standard dictionary, but users can add there own words
I am so surprised that this thread hasn’t generated more on-topic responses – these “predictive text typos” must happen ALL THE TIME. I myself have personally promised my girlfriend that I will “kick her puppy” just as soon as she got home.
Perhaps you had to be there.
C’mon people, lend a hand – there’s history to be made…
I get a slight chuckle out of these (BTW my phone does say Japan when I type karaoke, and it’s in english) but since I rarely if ever text people, Ive never found any.
Pretty much the entire developed world sends them constantly apart from the US, it seems (as usual ;)).
The go => in annoys me.
I don’t know where they get their predictive text order stats from, but they’re clearly not oriented around messages people actually send on SMS. Also handy would be a phone that learns one’s own patterns of usage for certain words and adapts the preferences.
Mine does. But then, mine also recognises my handwriting, so there’s no need for predictive text. But it will offer completions based on what I’m writing and remember which words I use the most.