Der Cupertino-Effekt
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Spiegel Online, Germany's biggest news website and a sister publication of the weekly Der Spiegel, has just run an article on one of our favorite topics: the Cupertino effect, the phenomenon whereby automated spellcheckers miscorrect words and inattentive users accept those miscorrections. (See my primer on OUPblog as well as our ongoing coverage on both the old and new Language Log.) I was interviewed for the piece, which was written by Konrad Lischka for his column on everyday things that do not work (Fehlfunktion, or 'malfunction'). Though I don't read German, the article looks pretty solid. I especially like the German Cupertinos that are provided, based on spellchecker suggestions in German Mac Word 2008. For instance, Barack Obama prompts the suggestion Barock Obama (barock means 'baroque'), while Stinger-Rakete ('Stinger missile') prompts Stinker-Rakte ('stinker missile'). Looks like a job for the intrepid Microsoft Office Natural Language Team, Teutonic division.
Robert T McQuaid said,
March 12, 2009 @ 2:48 pm
My American Heritage dictionary says:
baroque: 3. Ornate or flamboyant in style; richly ornamented: "his addiction to a baroque luxuriance of language" (Orville Prescott)
So what is wrong with Baroque Obama?
Benjamin Zimmer said,
March 12, 2009 @ 2:51 pm
Hey, you can even get it on a T-shirt or two.
Michael W said,
March 12, 2009 @ 3:09 pm
They also give another good example from the Microsoft Word 95. 'Internet' was not in the dictionary, and became Internat, which means 'boarding school'.
mollymooly said,
March 12, 2009 @ 4:25 pm
This morning I read (in "on penalties" by Andrew Anthony) of "cads of the most unscrupulous kidney". Several websites (though not Anthony) quote C.B.Fry as having actually used this expression. Perhaps the kidney is the seat of caddishness, as are the heart of desire and the liver of courage; or perhaps this Cupertino has taken on a life of its own.
Benjamin Zimmer said,
March 12, 2009 @ 5:32 pm
@mollymooly: Interesting… the attribution to C.B. Fry predates the advent of word processors, however. Google Book Search finds it in Edwardians at play, 1973. So perhaps he really did write it that way, as a joke?
Chandan Narayan said,
March 12, 2009 @ 5:36 pm
Baroque Obama…sound's like an old Falco tune.
MS Word used to give me 'Crandon Aryan'
Geraint Jennings said,
March 12, 2009 @ 5:47 pm
"of the (same) kidney" a cupertino? Surely not. The construction is familiar to me – and evidently was also to Thomas Gray (died 1771):
(…)
The Master of Maudlin
In the same dirt is dawdling;
The Master of Sidney
Is of the same kidney;
The Master of Trinity
To him bears affinity
(…)
Linda said,
March 12, 2009 @ 5:53 pm
There's some context for the C B Fry quote here. http://thatsireland.com/2007/05/30/the-irishman-who-invented-the-penalty-kick/
mollymooly said,
March 12, 2009 @ 6:28 pm
Whaddaya know: OED, s.v. "kidney":
2. fig. a. Temperament, nature, constitution, disposition; hence, kind, sort, class, stamp.
Dave M said,
March 12, 2009 @ 7:43 pm
Speaking of Teutonic Cupertinos, my (English) spellcheck suggests that rather than writing of (the German philosopher) Heidegger, I might perhaps have meant "headgear."
Dan Lufkin said,
March 12, 2009 @ 8:07 pm
Just this morning I read, I think on LL (but maybe on NYT Freakonomics), "Get out of bed, slugger." I was going to report this as a Cupertino observation, but on mature reflection I thought perhaps it was either self-inflicted or punning. My Word 2008 accepts "sluggard," so maybe it was self-inflicted. I searched back but can't find it now.
Dan Lufkin said,
March 12, 2009 @ 8:22 pm
Almost forgot — German has two words about trying to improve something but making it worse instead: Schlimmbesserung and Verballhornung (noun forms). When a culture has a pressing need for a descriptor …
AS said,
March 12, 2009 @ 8:40 pm
@ Dan: Schlimmbesserung, yes (although I know it as "Verschlimmbesserung", but both versions might be going around, it's very informal). But "Verballhornung" is to mispronounce or misspell a complicated, usually foreign, word or expression – the dictionary translates as "malapropism". I'd also use it for example to describe the origin of "Böfflamott": a Bavarian beef dish whose name is a Verballhornung of the french "boeuf a la mode". Not a malapropism anymore at this point, but a proud Bavarian tradition…
Andrew said,
March 13, 2009 @ 7:53 am
There's something I'm not getting. 'Kidney' undoubtedly has that meaning, though I've only previously seen it in the set phrase 'of the same kidney'. But if it were a Cupertino, what would it be a Cupertino for?
Faldone said,
March 13, 2009 @ 9:05 am
@Andrew: I would say kidn as a typo for kind, but Word2007, at least, offers kind as the first suggestion for kidn.
mike said,
March 13, 2009 @ 12:16 pm
Shouldn't that be the Kupertino-Effekt (mit K)? :-)
marie-lucie said,
March 13, 2009 @ 5:34 pm
AS: "Verballhornung" is to mispronounce or misspell a complicated, usually foreign, word or expression – the dictionary translates as "malapropism". I'd also use it for example to describe the origin of "Böfflamott": a Bavarian beef dish whose name is a Verballhornung of the french "boeuf a la mode".
"Malapropism" (from Mrs Malaprop, a character in Sheridan's The Rivals) is not the mispronunciation of foreign words but a confusion between two long, complex words of foreign origin which have been adopted into the language but are not analyzable. An example would be using "geometry" for "geography", or "scatology" for "psychology". Mrs Malaprop is so named because she has a large vocabulary but uses the words "mal à propos", that is, in the wrong context. Your "Böfflamott" is not a malapropism, since it is simply a phonetic adaptation of a French phrase, which has the same meaning.
AS said,
March 13, 2009 @ 8:14 pm
Oh, well, I didn't really know what a malapropism is, I just looked up the translation of "Verballhornung" on leo.org. I guess my main point was the meaning of that word. I checked the Duden in the meantime, and the original meaning seems to be indeed to make something worse when trying to make it better. But today I think it's use is somewhat different. I understand it to be an (intentional) alteration of a word or expression, e.g. by an additional negation or change in spelling, that changes/obscures the original meaning. The link between the two is the very origin of the word: a person of the name Ballhorn who produced an "improved" edition of the law of the city Lübeck that contained lots of nonsensical spelling mistakes and word swaps. Regardless, it seems malapropism is not a good translation for "Verballhornung"…
mollymooly said,
March 14, 2009 @ 12:27 am
@Andrew
"kind" mistyped as "kidn" would Cupertino nicely to "kidney".
Achim said,
March 16, 2009 @ 11:51 am
AS: It should be Verschlimmbesserung. The point is that "improvement" would be Verbesserung (besser = "better"), where the schlimm "bad" has been operated into.