Archive for August, 2005

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Thu 4 Aug 2005

Predictive Censorship

Posted by anaglyph under Bizarre, Signs
[2] Comments

It all started when I went to make a snappy reply to a text that a friend sent me. I meant to tap in ‘Damn slippy!’ but the predictive texting on my Sony Ericsson didn’t want to know about the word ‘damn’. It offered me:

Hmm. The dictionary is highly patchy but ‘damn’ seems like it should be covered. So obviously the word ‘bugger’ wouldn’t make it…. but what’s this?

‘Bugger’ is OK but ‘damn’ is not. Interesting. Well this of course prompted me to launch exploratory mission of finding out what my phone would and would not accept as proper. All the really rude words don’t appear, but the most perplexing thing I discovered is that the word ‘vagina’ is acceptable:

… but that ‘penis’ is not:

I wonder if I could get big money from Sony Ericsson for sexual discrimination?

I leave you with this thought: a person made the decision about what kinds of words the phone’s inbuilt dictionary would include…

 

Tue 2 Aug 2005

I Need a Good Stiff… er… Drink…

Posted by anaglyph under Spam Observations
1 Comment

Spam Observations #10

Today, my Newest Best Friend, Tanya, wrote with her surprising news: “My penis is always hard and is able to move without interruption!” That’s a little personal for a first email, but hey, yay for you Tanya! I also find the interruption of penis movement off-putting, though I can’t really imagine how strange it must be for you in your particular circumstance.

Tanya went on to boast of “Rock hard manhood, multiple explosions and several times more semen volume!” and then exclaimed that she could get me “… a several month supply of everything you need – in seconds!”

I am somewhat skeptical that I could obtain anything from the web “in seconds” even taking into account the Modern Miracle That Is Digital Cash. The temptation, however, to get a several month supply of everything I need is hard to resist (notwithstanding my concern that achieving “multiple explosions” sounds a little too much like a bowel malfunction for my taste).

This constant gender bending amongst spammers is making me dizzy. Glen or Glenda? Just bring me the Glenmorangie.

For more evidence of Spammer Identity Confusion (SIC) see:

Modern Love: Spam Observations #9
Holy!!!!: Spam Observations #7
Do Our Bums Look Big In This?: Spam Observations #6