Comments on: Georgia school goes lockdown after SMS is autocorrected from "gunna" to "gunman"

By: Christopher

Christopher — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 13:32:00 +0000

While this is a good reason to turn off auto-correct, at the same time I always have fun anytime I get a new device and see how badly it mangles “Jabberwocky”.

Then again I could always turn off my auto-correct after it’s told me that “‘Twas brimming and the slimy toes did gape and gamble in the wire.”

By: scav

scav — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 12:16:00 +0000

Gundam be at West hall this afternoon.
とんでもない！

By: robuluz

robuluz — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 10:59:00 +0000

Gunman be at West Hall this afternoon, don’t blame it on I and I.

By: Lemoutan

Lemoutan — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 09:25:00 +0000

Aimin’ t’be there m’self, fella

By: Michael Smith

Michael Smith — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 08:26:00 +0000

Where I worked we had Freeway emergency telephones are for your connivance and safety.

By: Incipient Madness

Incipient Madness — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 06:25:00 +0000

Except that “fixin to” and “gonna” are not synonyms. “Gonna” just means at some point in the future. “Fixin to” means at some point in the near future or that one has already begun arranging the thing one is “fixin to” do even if that thing is farther off in the future.

How people communicate without understanding or making this distinction is beyond me.

By: Donald Petersen

Donald Petersen — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 05:21:00 +0000

Thanks, teapot! Neato.

By: teapot

teapot — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 04:40:00 +0000

Yeah… in ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich) they sexified the menus and UI. Immediate OS updates upon launch is why I chose a Google experience phone. I have a Nexus S (late 2010 – get off my lawn too!) but this puppy performs way better than the similarly-spec’d Galaxy S it replaced.

Re: Screenshots – it depends drastically on the model and whether it is a rooted device. Some phones (particularly Samsung) make it very easy – all I do is hit volume down & power at the same time.

Otherwise for some phones you’ll basically need to root it and install an app that takes screenshots. The reason you have to root it is a security “feature” because obviously if an app can take screenshots your personal information could be easily compromised. Apparently the only other way is some method involving the SDK and your PC:
http://www.knowyourmobile.in/smartphones/htc/htc-incredible-s/HTCIncredibleSuserguides/823848/how_to_take_screenshots_on_the_htc_incredible_s.html

By: cebb

cebb — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 04:06:00 +0000

“The situation was further complicated when the texter accidentally sent the text to a wrong number.

The text, which now read “Gunman at West hall,” was received by someone identified only as “a member of the West Hall community”"

Is this a story being used to explain a law enforcement response initiated by Homeland Security after routine scanning of keywords in telecommunication traffic?

By: Moriarty

Moriarty — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 03:55:00 +0000

And the solution is to just turn off autocorrect. I really don’t understand why anyone leaves it on; I find it incredibly annoying and unhelpful more often than not.

By: awjt

awjt — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 03:55:00 +0000

when DYAC turns to just DY

By: Danae Agnew

Danae Agnew — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 03:29:00 +0000

a lot of times, people don’t notice.

By: Donald Petersen

Donald Petersen — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 02:49:00 +0000

Wow, my menus look completely different. I assume you have something newer than Gingerbread?

By: Donald Petersen

Donald Petersen — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 02:45:00 +0000

Wish I knew how to take a screenshot, absent another camera. My interface looks completely different (Gingerbread 2.3.4 on a 2-year-old HTC Incredible, getoffamylawn), but my autocorrect for Gunna does “Gunman” as the very first, default correction (followed by “Gymnasium,” “Gymnastics,” “Hubbard,” and “Hymns”), so I have no doubt that the kid’s story is completely true.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 02:08:00 +0000

This is why real Americans say, “Fixin to be at West hall this afternoon.”

By: Ethan Holman

Ethan Holman — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 01:44:00 +0000

One serious injury was thought to have occurred, but it turned out the ‘victim’ had had his arm previously amputated.

He was later reported to have declared, “And THAT is why you always proofread your text messages.”

By: digi_owl

digi_owl — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 01:43:00 +0000

Also, dropping some words to keep the message short makes it less likely to roll over the 160 line and cost you double.

By: awjt

awjt — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 01:17:00 +0000

Yeah, no followup text saying this??? WTF. If I wrote my mom and said something untoward, I’d at least have the courtesy to send her a “DAMN YOU, AUTOCORRECT!”

By: teapot

teapot — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 00:49:00 +0000

The breadth of your knowledge will never cease to amaze me.

Another thing: You wouldn’t want to be an expat who lives/lived in Japan’s Gunma prefecture.

By: teapot

teapot — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 00:47:00 +0000

My bad: you’re right.

I forgot that there is an option in Settings>Language & Input>Android Keyboard Settings>Auto-correction that allows user preference as to the ferocity of auto-correct.

http://i.imgur.com/HVWqX.png

No one should set it above modest IMO…. Call me old-fashioned but I’m of the opinion that you should be smarter than your phone :)

By: marilove

marilove — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 00:40:00 +0000

Autocorrect sometimes makes guesses based on your typing history, doesn’t it? Maybe he’s typed in “gunman” before? Which I’m not sure would help y’all feel better…

By: Richard Dagenais

Richard Dagenais — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 00:37:00 +0000

Recipient may have had a conventional mobile phone with a smaller display and the sentence was truncated.

By: teapot

teapot — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 00:34:00 +0000

My Android on ICS offered it as the last suggestion, but it didn’t auto-correct it.

http://i.imgur.com/i8fSq.png

By: Richard Dagenais

Richard Dagenais — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 00:34:00 +0000

Mine, also android, autocorrected to gunners.

By: Donald Petersen

Donald Petersen — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 00:24:00 +0000

The kid undoubtedly accidentally typed “gunma” not “gunna” – try it yourself: gunna doesn’t auto-correct. gunma does.

Not undoubtedly. Like Smash Martian above, my Android also autocorrects “gunman” for “gunna.”

“Gonna,” however, is “gonna.” So, kids, if ya gonna misspell, then misspell correctly.

By: Jim Saul

Jim Saul — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 00:06:00 +0000

Yeah, the “wrong number” part seems strange. On the other hand, some woman named Nikki is missing all the messages H&R Block have been sending to my cell over the past week reminding her of a tax appointment.

By: voiceinthedistance

voiceinthedistance — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 23:42:00 +0000

Act natural. I’ve got a gub.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 23:08:00 +0000

The kid undoubtedly accidentally typed "gunma" not "gunna"

We're lucky that it didn't change it to granma; we'd have another Bay of Pigs incident.

By: Smash Martian

Smash Martian — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 22:47:00 +0000

Mine (Android) offered gunman as the first suggestion after typing in “gunna” on a quick test.

Wait a mo.. someone’s shouting at the door. Back in a sec…

By: teapot

teapot — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 22:39:00 +0000

Some things:
1) The kid undoubtedly accidentally typed “gunma” not “gunna” – try it yourself: gunna doesn’t auto-correct. gunma does. This is a typing fail, not an autocorrect fail… a phone can only guess words based on your crappy input.

2) @boingboing-2cb003b410ba24d03b9fc7fee7e2ad8a:disqus : I don’t believe any phones autocorrect grammar.

3) What ever happened to proofreading? The kids of today are gunman become illiterate and stupid adults.