# Why does the spellcheck hate Obama?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-spellcheck-hate-obama/451549
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [June 2, 2008, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-spellcheck-hate-obama/451549 "2008-06-02T23:13:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Goblinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Goblinboy)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2008, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-spellcheck-hate-obama/451549/1 "2008-06-02T23:13:06Z")
So I was posting in a political thread earlier and I noticed that Obama gets the red underline of doom from the board spell check. Neither Clinton nor McCain provoke this hostile response. What nefarious board politics keep his name from being entered in the board’s approved lexicon?
Is there some way to add words to the spell check such as names and places?
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### Author:  [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2008, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-spellcheck-hate-obama/451549/2 "2008-06-02T23:16:56Z")
The board has spellcheck?
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2008, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-spellcheck-hate-obama/451549/3 "2008-06-02T23:20:49Z")
The board does not have a spellcheck. Your browser might. The reason that it accepts Clinton and McCain is that those are relatively common names, whereas Obama isn’t (at least, in the US). How to add it will depend on your browser, but right-clicking on the red-underlined word will probably give you an appropriate option.
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### Author:  [@essell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/essell)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2008, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-spellcheck-hate-obama/451549/4 "2008-06-02T23:22:42Z")
**Goblinboy** , Right click on a red underlined word and click “add to dictionary”
**Antinor** , it’s a feature of FireFox, not the board.
All this assumes **Goblinboy** doesn’t have something more exotic.
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### Author:  [@Goblinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Goblinboy)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2008, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-spellcheck-hate-obama/451549/5 "2008-06-02T23:23:12Z")
Obama Obama Obama
Ok, I’m a moron. Never even thought it’d be in Firefox, not the board itself. Fixed now. Thank you.
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2008, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-spellcheck-hate-obama/451549/6 "2008-06-02T23:34:59Z")
[QUOTE=essell]
**Antinor** , it’s a feature of FireFox, not the board.
[/QUOTE]
Also of IE 7.
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### Author:  [@essell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/essell)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2008, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-spellcheck-hate-obama/451549/7 "2008-06-02T23:37:01Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.]
Also of IE 7.
[/QUOTE]
You know, I never listened to the posts that said you were evil; until now.