The Apostrophic War

From: Ethan Dicks <erd_at_infinet.com>
Date: Thu Jan 7 10:22:08 1999

>
> Philip.Belben_at_pgen.com said...
> |
> |So don't dismiss it too soon if someone says the computer won't let them do
> |it.
>
> Years ago my dad got fed up with the fact that he
> had a couple dozen gas, credit and other cards with
> our name spelled without an apostrophe. He called,
> wrote letters, and generally waged a one man war.

I forget the exact issue, but in a late-1970's Byte or Creative Computing,
there was an article entitled, "They're ruining our names" by a Mike? O'Grady.
His complaint was that mail arrived to OGRADY, Ogrady, even Ogruley. He
was told the same thing: the computer can't handle it. A cheap excuse, but
nearly unassailable.

When someone tells me over the phone that "the computer made a mistake", I
am usually riled up enough to demand to know if the serviceman has arrived
yet. The drone always asks why, and I reply that if the _computer_ made a
mistake, then it must be broken. OTOH, if the computer isn't broken, then
it's a human error and a human can fix it.

-ethan
Received on Thu Jan 07 1999 - 10:22:08 GMT