I've just discovered that the spellchecker on my Outlook wants to change "wellies" to "willies".

I discovered this with an email to all staff about the condition of their wellies and whether they meet the standards required. I'm just glad I didn't say I needed to inspect them.

Spellcheck can be extremely useful, autocorrect can be extremely embarrassing. I know someone who sent an email to a client, autocorrect changed the client's surname to something offensive. Fortunately the client was able to see the funny side. I suppose the moral of the story is to always double check what you write and don't completely rely on spellcheck or other similar features.

hahahahahahahahahahaha - that's all

I would agree with SpaceNinja, not being the most competent typist, spellcheck has saved me from many embarrassing errors. Many, but not all. Some have been very close calls as the word I've typed would pass the spellcheck but would be very bad to send out. Just yesterday, I was following up a telephone conversation with an email to a customer - Alan. Reading the email back to myself to check the wording for context, I noted that on the three occasions I had typed his name I had put the "a"s in the right location but had reversed the "l" and "n".

I am going to read back what I have typed more often, I may even have to be more alan about it!!

Sometimes it can even be deliberate!

I was in a meeting with an American firm called Analysis Gas. After much uncontrollable chuckling I managed to explain the meaning of the abbreviation they had used :) (I am sure you can work it out)

Even thinking about it has made me smile - also reading the above makes the toes curl when thinking about similar mistakes :)

We had a colleague who sent an email referring to extra duties for the girls in the warehouse... the spellchecker changed it to 'whorehouse'... they were not amused!

One clear lesson emerging from this topic is don't rely on auto spell checkers. Change to manual ones (like the one for this forum) which though slower give you a choice about whether to change a word or not as well as suggested alternatives. As for auto grammar checkers, I'll restrain myself to simply commenting that the few I've encountered (probably programmed by Americans) can't do grammar and are a waste of time. Far better to use your own brains and writing abilities. However, even if you don't use auto spell checkers, you can still try to blame them for errors in messages which do get shared with others!

p.s. have just used the forum spell checker and was disappointed that it didn't come up with any risible suggestions about words or names. :-(

Most embarrasing one for me was sending an email to a person I knew was gay!

I ended my email with the following:

"If you have any queeries please dont hesitate to contact me"!

I was somewhat embarrased by not checking it- I do now!

I am definitely not at ease with new technology. I am OK with Windows and Mac stuff that I use at home, but if I veer away from my comfort zone, it often ends in tears. However, when I started with my current employers I was freaked out by seeing they used an archaic & bespoke email system which looks like something designed by Fred Flintstone. I instantly hated it & still do.

On one occasion I attempted to e-mail 5 x fire wardens to invite them to a fire warden 'walk-through'. Accidentally, I invited around 2,500 of the 4,000 people in the building (including the CEO).

I rapidly cancelled the meeting with an apologetic 2nd e-mail, and took the opportunity to introduce myself. I am sure they were well impressed with me and my professional competence :-)