Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Dictionary: American versus Australian spelling.

In the process of creating the Kelvin dictionary I come across words which I find interesting which you may find interesting. The following is a short list of some of the words which are spelt differently in America and Australia.

The first word is the American spelling and the second word is the Australian spelling.

skeptical, sceptical
color, colour
traveled, travelled
mold, mould
chiseled, chiselled
gray, grey
mustache, moustache
pretense, pretence
pajamas, pyjamas
checkered, chequered
math, maths
plowed, ploughed
tidbit, titbit
whiskey, whisky
skillful, skilful

Whilst some dictionaries list color as now equal to colour in Australia,  usage shows colour is still preferred by most Australians.

If you want to check if you're using the preferred Australian spelling of a word, you can now do this using Word Check. You can find Word Check on the dictionary project page www.dictionary.JustLocal.com.au.

By the way the words whiskey and whisky are particularly interesting. When talking about whisky it is Scottish whisky, American whiskey and Irish whiskey. The preferred spelling in Australia is whisky. 

Enjoy,

Kelvin Eldridge

 

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

JustLocal search for Eltham Victoria 3095 now available.

Further to our extended search trial for a local area, we are now trialling an extended search for businesses and other organisations in the Eltham 3095 area. As we find businesses and groups with web sites, we will include them in the search engine. This will enable residents and businesses to not only use the services of the businesses on the 3095 postcode page, but also to easily find businesses and services in the 3095 postcode area.

You can find the search facility in the menus at the top of the JustLocal 3095 page, or you can go straight to the 3095 search page.

Supporting local business has always made sense. Now it is much easier for those in the Eltham area.

Please enjoy.

- Kelvin Eldridge

Monday, April 20, 2009

Australian dictionary: How good is your spelling?

Feel like testing your spelling skills. Can you get ten out of ten for the following words?

leucaemia, leukaemia
whiskey, whisky
dakked, dacked
transshipment, transhipment
bonzer, bonza
wagon, waggon
organise, organize
co-operate, cooperate
ice cream, ice-cream
sulphur, sulfur

I'll reveal the answer sometime in the future.

Good luck.

- Kelvin Eldridge

P.S. If you are interested in Australian English spellcheck dictionaries visit www.dictionary.JustLocal.com.au.


Thursday, April 16, 2009

JustLocal search for Templestowe Victoria 3106 now live.

The primary aim of JustLocal is to encourage residents and businesses in an area, to preferentially purchase from businesses in the area. We believe the more residents and businesses support each other in an area, the more the local community will benefit and grow. This will also mean reduced usage of cars and public transport, resulting in considerable savings for the environment, the community and the individual. 

As part of improving the experience of those using JustLocal, we are now trialling an extended search for businesses and other organisations (such as schools and churches) in the Templestowe 3106 area. As we find businesses and groups with web sites, we will include them in the search engine. This will enable residents and businesses to not only use the services of the businesses on the 3106 postcode page, but also to easily find businesses and services in the 3106 postcode area.

You can find the search facility in the menus at the top of the JustLocal 3106 page, or you can go straight to the 3106 search page.

Supporting local business has always made sense. Now it is much easier for those in the Templestowe area.

Please enjoy.

- Kelvin Eldridge




Thursday, April 02, 2009

JustLocal virus alert: Webmail Upgrading, OptusNet Customer Service

I just received an email into my Gmail account which had the subject, Webmail Upgrading, and appeared to come from OptusNet Customer Service.

This email is a phishing attempt and should be discarded. Do not take action based on the email.

If you check the returned email address you will see the user "suport@optusnet.com.au" is spelt incorrectly. It also has incorrect word usage in the message.

The problem I found is with Gmail I could not see the underlying URL for the link. The email was not identified as spam by Gmail. In Outlook you can hover over the link and the underlying URL is shown. I retrieved the email using Outlook which displayed the link text as https://memberservices.optuszoo.com.au/login/?target=/myaccount/, but if you clicked on the link you would actually go to a domain www.uauctionoff.com.

If you are using web mail services such as Gmail please take care. Gmail is easy to use, but the lack of information on the actual address for the link could easily trick a person.

For those who are interested the email I received was sent from Nigeria.

Take care

- Kelvin Eldridge

PS. Recently I decided to withdraw OzEfilter due to insufficient people purchasing the software to justify ongoing development. However the response has been very loud that those using the software to protect them from unwanted emails, would like OzEfilter to continue. If you are thinking about getting OzEfilter let me know. If enough people are interested I will release a new edition.