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MS-Word Learns a New Word
Skedaddle: ski-DAD-uhl. Run away; esp: to flee in panic. Also skedaddled; skedaddling; skedaddler.
-From Webster's Ninth New Collegiate
Can you believe that Word doesn't recognize "skedaddle" as a legitimate word? Here I am, deep in the act of writing The Secret Life of Eric Saxby, wrapped up in a character's charming dialect, totally "into" my little created movie world and happily unaware that I'm typing away at a keyboard, when all of a sudden Eric utters that colloquial sweetness and - BOOM! - gets slapped with one of those irriating red squiggly underline thingees. The equivalent of the $10 adultery fine still on the books, I believe, in Maryland: rude, over-reactive, and incredibly philistine.
Heh. I bet Mac users don't have to put up with such PC suit-and-tie starchiness. I fact, I bet you can use skedaddle all over the place in their version of Word and instead of censure, upon each use, a Powerbook vends a lollipop from a supply tucked away into the sleek casing by one of Apple's quirky engineering staff. Ahh, I miss my Mac days. Sometimes.
But now back to the real issue at hand: how can such an oversight occur with a word so damn catchy and fun to say?
C'mon, try it. Skedaddle. Skedaddle. Skedaddle. See? It's fun!
Would stay and write more, but I must ... you know.
Ahem.
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