Salon | 21st: The 21st Challenge -- spell-check adds of the rich and famous

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T A B L E_T A L K

Microsoft vs. the feds -- who'll come out on top in this clash of the titans? Place your bets in Table Talk's Digital Culture area

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R E C E N T L Y

Let's get this straight
By Scott Rosenberg
Microsoft to world: Remove our browser and your system will crash
(12/19/97)

Silicon Valley's power cults
By Scott Rosenberg
New books look inside Intel, Oracle and Apple
(12/18/97)

The empire clicks back
By Andrew Leonard
"Age of Empires" lets you run your own civilization
(12/17/97)

Upgraded memories
By Jack Mingo
Inside UC-Berkeley's treasure-trove of historical photos
(12/16/97)

Survival of the chicest
By Thomas Lewis
A review of Steven Pinker's "How the Mind Works"
(12/15/97)

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BROWSE THE
21ST ARCHIVES

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spell-check ADDs of the rich and famous

BY CHARLIE VARON AND JIM ROSENAU THE 21st CHALLENGE

EDITOR'S NOTE: Welcome to the 21st Challenge. Every two weeks, Charlie and Jim will devise a new challenge and offer some examples of what submissions might look like. You e-mail us your responses to the challenge. The winning response this round will receive a signed copy of Salon technology writer Andrew Leonard's new book, "Bots: The Origin of New Species." We'll publish the winning entry and other select entries. Then the whole thing will start over again.

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C H A L L E N G E_N O ._2

Shocking new research shows that spell-check dictionaries reveal the inner self more accurately than psychotherapy! Once these word choices are accepted with a too-hasty click of the ADD button, our personal lingo and private mistakes lodge deep within our spell-checkers' unconscious sub-routines.

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E X A M P L E S

DAN QUAYLE: potatoe, potatow, patootie, campain, elecshun, Gingrinch, valuse

KENNY McCAUGHEY: septuplets, childcare, tubal ligation, minivan

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R U L E S

Readers can submit lists of up to 10 words for as many as three prominent people. Use either misspelled words or words that are unlikely to be found in the limited dictionary of a typical spell-checker.

Send your submissions via e-mail only to 21st@salonmagazine.com. Please include your full name and an accurate e-mail address so we can contact you if you're a winner. By submitting your entry you give Salon permission to publish it. Deadline for entries is Jan. 5, 1998.

In early January we'll publish a winner and some selected entries -- and start over with a whole new challenge.

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N E X T_P A G E | Results of Challenge No. 1: Rename that software!