Things we say that are simply wrong.

I was recently talking with a Read's Office Supplies, a VPS partner, and for some reason I mentioned a black and white toner. Now I know the toner is simply black toner. But so many people ask for a toner so they can print in black and white, it is hard not to say black and white.

That made me think about the things we say frequently which are probably wrong, but once said often enough, become part of the language.

As the creator of the Australian English dictionary files which now help nearly a million people spellcheck their documents, I will admit I frequently flipped between writing spell check/spellcheck and spell checker/spellchecker. Then I read in a forum, where a person pointed out to others it is not a spell checker. You would use a spell checker to check a spell. Now since I don't know many witches or warlocks, I don't really think my dictionary work is for a spell checker.

A bit of checking and it becomes quite evident the forms should probably be:

• spelling check
• spellchecker
• spellcheck

A check of the Kelvinometer (a tool I use to check word usage in Australia via the search engines) shows the following:

• spell check is used three times as much as spellcheck
• spell checker is used three times as much as spellchecker

Both the authoritative references I use for the dictionary work list spellcheck and spellchecker. Neither list spell check or spell checker as alternate spelling.

I wonder how many other words or expressions we use in day-to-day life, which we don't realise are perhaps not quite right and the majority of people also use.

Using spell check is so common it would not be considered an error. For me now that I know better, I will be using the spellchecker to spellcheck my work for spelling errors;-)

Enjoy.

- Kelvin Eldridge