# Autocorrect Autocorrect is the phone and word processor feature that silently rewrites typos into their nearest dictionary match, with results like 'duck' filling in for a less polite verb. The Guardian flagged a June 2008 American Family Association blunder that turned sprinter Tyson Gay's name into the headline 'Homosexual eases into 100 final at Olympic trials,' and by October 2010 the blog Damn You Autocorrect was collecting embarrassing SMS screenshots from readers. ## Origin Autocorrection shipped with Microsoft Word 97 in 1998, long before touchscreens made it a household joke[7]. The first mainstream story about autocorrect going wrong came from The Guardian in June 2008, after the American Family Association's news site globally replaced 'gay' with 'homosexual' and published 'Homosexual eases into 100 final at Olympic trials' about sprinter Tyson Gay[1]. That November, Flickr user Merrick Monroe uploaded one of the earliest widely-shared iPhone screenshot examples, a conversation the autocorrect function had rewritten into nonsense[8]. - **Platform:** iPhone SMS screenshots / Tumblr (viral spread) - **Creator:** Unknown - **Date:** 2010 ## Overview Posts in this format are almost always SMS screenshots where one wrong word replacement derails the entire message, followed by the sender's panicked recovery line[3]. Common beats include 'duck' filling in for the F word and iOS pushing proper nouns like 'Homosexual' where 'Gay' was typed[1]. The humor sticks because the punchline is written by the phone, not the sender. Damn You Autocorrect and Cheezburger's Autocowrecks sorted reader submissions by category, from dating fails to parent-child texts[5]. ## How to Use People typically screenshot a botched SMS thread on an iPhone or Android device, obscure identifying names if needed, and post it to Tumblr or Instagram with the hashtag '#autocorrect,' or submit it to a dedicated site like Damn You Autocorrect[3]. The punchline is usually the sender's follow-up message trying to walk back whatever the phone said. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Autocorrect? Autocorrect is a word-replacement feature on phones and word processors that replaces unknown typed strings with their closest dictionary match, often creating accidental comedy that spawned its own meme format[1]. ### Where did Autocorrect come from? The feature shipped with Microsoft Word 97 in 1998[7]. The comedic version took off after The Guardian covered the American Family Association's 'Homosexual eases into 100 final' headline in June 2008[1]. ### What does Autocorrect mean? In meme contexts, Autocorrect refers to the screenshot genre of SMS messages the phone wrecked without the sender noticing, popularized by Damn You Autocorrect starting October 2010[3]. ### How do you use Autocorrect? People typically screenshot a botched text thread, obscure identifying names, and post it with the hashtag '#autocorrect' or submit it to a site like Damn You Autocorrect[3]. ### Is Autocorrect still popular? The format is a classic of early-2010s texting humor. By late 2012 it was being aggregated by Mashable[4] and Cheezburger's Autocowrecks[6], with the Facebook page Autocorrect Fails passing 78,000 likes by January 2013[5]. ## References 1. [https://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2008/jun/30/computerautocorrectssurname]() 2. [http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/21/autocorrect-follies/]() 3. [http://www.damnyouautocorrect.com/]() 4. [https://mashable.com/2012/12/05/damn-you-auto-correct-funniest-text-2012/]() 5. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/autocorrect]() 6. [https://failblog.cheezburger.com/autocowrecks]() 7. [https://www.uic.edu/depts/adn/seminars/word97-intro/autocorrect.html]() 8. [https://www.flickr.com/photos/naughtymerrick/3030403958/]() 9. [https://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php//t-711810.html]() 10. [http://stupidautocorrect.tumblr.com/]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/autocorrect Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library