There I was, sending [bridget] a definition of the word berms, when, lo and behold, Outlook informed me that berms wasn't in its dictionary. When an application finds that it doesn't know a word, it should pop out to dictionary.com* and check there too. If it finds it, it should ask you whether you want to add it to your custom word list**, otherwise, it should just do what it does now i.e. panic.

* subsitute your favourite word source(s)

** configurable option to do this automatically.
-- neilp, Jul 09 2005

Awwww. http://corgi.ncn.com/
[2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jul 09 2005]

Microspell http://www.microspell.com/
Appears to do this. [waugsqueke, Jul 09 2005]

//goes an checks// Will that source be checking for typos and/or irregular grammar, too? (p.s.: thanks [neilp] for causing me to look up the definition of "berm". I had always thought it referred to the small hill or mound used in landscaping to divide or seclude an area, or alternatively to the unpaved shoulder of a road. I find now that it refers to the flat, level strip of ground on top of, at the base of, or shouldering that slope. Larn'd sumthin.)
-- jurist, Jul 09 2005


"Berm" can also refer to the pile of dirt thrown up by a series of off-road motorbikes making a turn along the same path over and over. I learned that after I saw a movie about a couple of Indians in the long-ago wilderness, that had them standing atop an obvious dirtbike berm. Nobody else noticed it, or thought it was funny, but somebody knew the word.

"Berm! Oh, excuse me, ma'am, that was my motorbike."
-- baconbrain, Jul 09 2005


+ Does anyone know what [Unabubba] means by "corgis". It's not in my dictionary in any way that works with what he said.
(See benfrost trousers).
-- Zimmy, Jul 09 2005


[link] [Zimmy]
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jul 09 2005


In the particular context that [UB] used the word, I think he was specifically playing on Queen Elizabeth II's well-known affection for the Pembroke Welsh Corgi breed. Rather annoying little herders and heel-nippers.
-- jurist, Jul 09 2005


[waugs] that microspell thing sort of does it, but I'd like this to replace the current spelling functionality (i.e. so it does spell checking before send, and highlighted within documents) without me having to instigate it each time. Also, microspell doesn't seem to actually consult 'the internet' each time it finds a word it doesn't know, only when you ask it to.
-- neilp, Jul 19 2005



random, halfbakery