Reading my mind: a rant.

I've written about predictive text before (as well as about the phone I once had that would never let me sign myself Mum, but only Otto), but this story is too delicious to let go.

Predictive text involves a computer program deciding what you mean even if you've typed something different. It's a bit like having computer arms coming out from the shelves as you walk round Sainsbury's or Tesco's or Lidl, filling up your supermarket trolley with the food most people buy.

Hm....that would be efficient and interesting, wouldn't it.

This letter appeared in a British national newspaper, The Telegraph.

Under Pressure

Sir,

I was assisting my 16-year-old daughter with her homework when she received a text from her Mum, which read: "What do you want from life?"

This was an unexpected and profound question for an exam-sitting teenager. We debated various answers - wealth, fulfillment, love, all three.

Five minutes later, she received another message, blaming predictive text for correcting the word Lidl.

David Lavelle, Coneythorpe, North Yorkshire

*********************

Still, what would life be without serendipity, eh? 

No, no, I really meant life, that time. Though come to think about it you can never be sure what you're going to find in Lidl, either.

Word To Use Today: predict. This word comes from the Latin word praedīcere to mention beforehand, from prae before plus dicere to say.

Many thanks to my daughter Roz for alerting me to the letter above.