# What bozo at Microsoft is responsible ...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bozo-at-microsoft-is-responsible/19910>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [May 18, 2000, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bozo-at-microsoft-is-responsible/19910 "2000-05-18T20:37:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Geenius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Geenius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geenius)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2000, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bozo-at-microsoft-is-responsible/19910/1 "2000-05-18T20:37:16Z")

</div>

… for making superscripted ordinals the default setting in Microsoft Word? I see those stupid things _everywhere_ now (in Arial, of course, the ugly duckling of the typographic world which will never, ever be a swan). When I was copy editing full-time I had to de-superscript those _th_s and _st_s and _nd_s and _rd_s constantly, undoing the damage caused by that stupid “feature.” If I ever find the programmer responsible – no, scratch that, it _had_ to be a necktie-wearing critter of some kind – I will wring his pencil neck.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2000, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bozo-at-microsoft-is-responsible/19910/2 "2000-05-18T21:20:04Z")

</div>

There’s only one person in charge at Microsoft. And yes, he is a pencil-necked geek.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2000, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bozo-at-microsoft-is-responsible/19910/3 "2000-05-18T21:58:53Z")

</div>

Don’t just complain. Turn the feature off.

Click on “tools” then “Autocorrect.” Click on the “Autoformat as you type” tab. There’s a check box “Ordinals with Superscript.” Turn that off and say “OK.”

It takes about 15 seconds.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Geenius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Geenius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geenius)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2000, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bozo-at-microsoft-is-responsible/19910/4 "2000-05-19T04:36:28Z")

</div>

Duh. _I_ know how to turn it off. The problem is, 99 percent of humanity doesn’t know how to turn it off, doesn’t know it _can_ be turned off, doesn’t know it _should_ be turned off, doesn’t even think about it at all. Most folks just go with the stupid, pointless, out-of-left-field flow.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2000, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bozo-at-microsoft-is-responsible/19910/5 "2000-05-20T04:49:03Z")

</div>

Shut up, all of you. Superscripted ordinals ROCK. Now if I could only get it to do that for nominal abbreviations like “Wm.” and “Danl.” and “Bros.” I could get all 18th-century on your asses. 😃