Everyone has a horror story about a text message they intended to send only to have it "corrected" by that annoying and always wrong AutoCorrect function. But this one from a middle school and high school in Gainesville, Georgia really takes the cake.
The schools were on lockdown Wednesday after a student sent what was supposed to be a harmless text turned into a scary, threatening message thanks to AutoCorrect. The original text read, "gunna be at west hall today" ("gunna" as in "going to"). Can you guess what AutoCorrect changed the text to?
The cellphone changed "gunna" to "gunman" -- as in "gunman be at west hall today." To add to the confusion, the student accidentally sent the text to the wrong person. Understandably alarmed by the gunman text from a strange number, the recipient called the police. The schools were put on lockdown until the authorities were able to trace the message to its sender and determine there was no threat.
Obviously, the incident caused a lot of needless anxiety for the students, parents, and school administration. But the person who called the police isn't to blame. In fact, I can totally understand why they reacted how they did, especially considering the tragic school shooting that occurred this week in Ohio. Everyone is on red alert for situations like these, and this person acted accordingly.
If anything is to be blamed, it's that frustrating AutoCorrect function. Most of the time it's just embarrassing us with its relentlessly inane corrections and bloopers, but in this case, it actually scared a lot of people! Don't you think it's about time we all just turned the damn thing off?
Have you ever had any embarrassing autocorrect gaffes?
Image via me and the sysop/Flickr
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Comments 27
It always changes my "Yay" to "gay". I usually catch it.
This must have been scary. Especially with the Ohio shooting occuring just a couple of days ago.
Turn off autocorrect, and LEARN TO SPELL. Then, as SierraLynn said, proofread before you send it. It doesn't take that long.
Agree with SierraLynn. And I have to wonder why the student was even texting while in school at all.
What time was the text message sent? Before school hours at most schools kidsare allowed to have their phones and do whatever they want on them. When school start though they're supposed to be off (and in my schools case in the locker, or the car) not on the students person. I never left my phone in the car. (didn't want the screen to crack because it froze) and I never left it in my locker because my locker didn't lock (which I had told the administration about) I kept it in the side pocket of my backpack.
Freaky though that it changed it to gunman and I'd have called the police to if I received that text message! Thank goodness it was just Autocorrect!
Also, thank you Sidthe, I had no idea my phone could crack in the cold. I constantly leave it in my car while at work.
And a fun webite for laughs... "Parents Shouldn't Text", some of that is hilarious!!
Also, thank you Sidthe, I had no idea my phone could crack in the cold. I constantly leave it in my car while at work.
And a fun webite for laughs... "Parents Shouldn't Text", some of that is hilarious!!