What is the fascination with auto-correct humor?

[Irishman]

@Enigma42

The very first time I used it to actually respond to an email I had a very close call with autocorrect! I was typing the word “other”, which is a pretty common word, right? I got O-T-H in and the *first *suggested word was “orgy”. “Other” was actually the second suggestion, which means if I hadn’t chosen manually my email would have gone out with “orgy” in it.

Now, I’m no prude, but “orgy” just doesn’t come up in my emails or text messages on a regular basis, you know? And since it was a pretty new phone at the time, I can guarantee I hadn’t added it to the custom dictionary. It’s very strange that the autocorrect would suggest such an uncommonly used (and also generally NSFW) word in place of a very common one. Nevertheless, it’s 100% reproducible on my phone.

It looks alphabetical to me. O = O, R is one digit from T, G is one digit from H. Then it lists the options alphabetically. Bingo - orgy at top.

@Snifit

The sent message was, “Elohim!”
I don’t know either.

Same thing.

E one from W, L one from O, O = O, H = H, I one from O. Then list alphabetically.

[Enigma42]

@Irishman

It looks alphabetical to me. O = O, R is one digit from T, G is one digit from H. Then it lists the options alphabetically. Bingo - orgy at top.

Sure, that would seem to be a reasonable explanation. . . Yet most words don’t work this way when it suggests the complete word. Generally, the letters you actually type dictate the first suggestion, unless you typed gibberish or a word not in the dictionary. So, if "other’ worked like most words, “other” would indeed be the first suggestion if you input O-T-H. And the suggestions are not usually listed alphabetically, rather by how close they are to what you input or how commonly used. Again, “other” should have been first on the list either way.

I’ve actually been watching how the phone suggests completed words, and this deal with other/orgy seems like an anomaly. I’m almost wondering if it was lame joke by some programmer somewhere. . . Really, “other” is a pretty common word in English compared to “orgy”. I would expect “orgy” to be pretty far down the list of autocomplete suggestions. By the way, I am using the Swype keyboard and this other/orgy autocomplete happens whether I swipe over the letters or tap them out individually.

[GargoyleWB]

I recently had my phone correct ‘Puget Sound’ to ‘piglet sound’. Good for a chuckle.

[Larry_Mudd]

Last week I sent a text message to a tenant who had moved out:

There’s a letter here for you from the CRAZY. What would you like me to do with it?

(CRA - “Canada Revenue Agency.” It’s tax time.) It was emphasised just like that, and gave the message an unintended unspoken bit of “You put your dick in it, didn’t you?”

[Senegoid]

In today’s news (29 Feb. 2012): Autocorrect error causes school to lock down, fear gunman in its midst

Somebody sent somebody a text message, but sent it to the wrong number by mistake.
Original text message was meant to say “Gunna be at West Hall today”.
Auto-correct fixed that to say “Gunman be at West Hall today”.
Wrong-number recipient called cops.
West Hall High School locked down.

From the third paragraph:

It turns out the original text message was supposed to have read “Gunna [oft-used abbreviation for ‘going to’] be at West Hall today,” but the sender’s new cell phone auto-corrected the misspelled word to “gunman.” The sender will not face any criminal charges for the text message, as it was clearly a mistake.