Variations of this poem (called “The Spell Checker Poem, “Ode to a Spellchecker”, “Owed to a Spelling Checker” , “Spellbound” or “Spell Checker Blues”) have been widely circulated by email for many years, so the attribution was eventually forgotten. However, as ProofingQueen is a fact-checker, she dug down to find out that this poem was originally published in the Jan/Feb 1994 issue of The Journal of Irreproducible Results, a satirical science magazine.
Titled “Candidate for a Pullet Surprise”, this poem was started in 1991 by Mark Eckman, and an expanded version was completed in 1992 by Dr. Jerrold H. Zar, an esteemed American biologist, researcher and professor at Northern Illinois University.
Although oday’s “intelligent” spellcheckers also look for grammar and misplaced punctuation, when I ran it through my spellchecker, it didn’t flag any words as actually being misspelled!
Candidate for a Pullet Surprise
– By Mark Eckman and Jerrold H. Zar
I have a spelling checker;
It came with my pea sea.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss steaks aye can knot sea.
Eye ran this poem threw it
Your sure reel glad two no.
Its vary polished in it’s weigh,
My checker tolled me sew.
A check her is a bless sing;
It freeze yew lodes of thyme.
It helps me right awl stiles two reed,
And aides me when eye rime.
Each frays come posed up on my screen
Eye trussed too bee a joule;
The checker pours o’er every word
To cheque sum spelling rule.
Bee fore a veiling checker’s
Hour spelling mite decline,
And if we’re lacks oar have a laps,
We wood bee maid too wine.
Now spelling does knot phase me,
It does knot bring a tier;
My pay purrs awl due glad den
With wrapped word’s fare as hear.
To rite with care is quite a feet
Of witch won should be proud;
And wee mussed dew da best wee can
Sew flaws are knot aloud.
Sow ewe can sea why aye dew prays
Such soft wear four pea seas,
And why eye brake in two averse
Buy righting want too pleas.