Rogue beast
Mobile phones (cellphones) can be used to send text messages (SMS). In predictive text mode, the phone guesses what word you are trying to write (sometimes not very well, if it doesn't have the word in its dictionary). More than one letter of the alphabet is allocated to each key, so even if you know what you are typing, the phone doesn't! That's why we get messages that say "I'm on a cup" (=I'm on a bus) or "See you at mine" when you mean See you at nine!
Obviously the phone manufacturer has decided which word is the most likely for each combination of keys. Very good and clever. So how is it that when I type 9-6-5-3 it picks, not "woke", but...wolf? How likely is it that I'd be saying something about a wolf more often than saying when I woke up? It's very odd.
Or did Little Red Riding Hood lose her phone?
Obviously the phone manufacturer has decided which word is the most likely for each combination of keys. Very good and clever. So how is it that when I type 9-6-5-3 it picks, not "woke", but...wolf? How likely is it that I'd be saying something about a wolf more often than saying when I woke up? It's very odd.
Or did Little Red Riding Hood lose her phone?
Labels: language, technology
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