British English and Snow Leopard

Question

Level 1

59 points

British English and Snow Leopard

Hitherto I've never had any difficulty in getting my Mac to recognise British spelling. However, that seems to have changed with Snow Leopard. I keep the check language and grammar settings switched on and every time I type text using an English spelling (like "recognise" above), it indicates it is wrong with the red underlining.

I have used the Language and Text preferences to show British English as my only choice in both the Language and Text sections. My region is set to UK and the Input section has only the British keyboard switched on. Additionally, if I call up the "Show Spelling and Grammar" box, it shows British English as the chosen option. I'm therefore baffled as to why my system marks British spellings as wrong.

I had thought of trashing the relevant preference file and starting again. However, I can't find a .plist file that holds the relevant settings.

Has anyone any ideas as to how I can resolve this? Any help will be gratefully received.

iMac 1.83Ghz Core 2 Duo 17 inch, Mac OS X (10.6.1), Boot Camp 3.0. Windows XP Pro SP3

Posted on Sep 16, 2009 11:00 AM

Reply

Answer 1

K T

Level 7

23,877 points

Sep 16, 2009 11:28 AM in response to Kris Jones

Hitherto I've never had any difficulty in getting my Mac to recognise British spelling

Seems there is now a declination twixt British spelling and British pronunciation.

Open Dictionary and peruse preferences forthwith to learn more.

Reply

Answer 2

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

115,922 points

Sep 16, 2009 11:45 AM in response to Kris Jones

. Additionally, if I call up the "Show Spelling and Grammar" box, it shows British English as the chosen option. I'm therefore baffled as to why my system marks British spellings as wrong.

What apps exactly? TextEdit?

Reply

Answer 3

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

115,922 points

Sep 16, 2009 11:46 AM in response to K T

Dictionary.app has no connection with the OS X spellchecker.

Reply

Answer 4

Kris Jones Author

Level 1

59 points

Sep 16, 2009 12:07 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

It happens with all applications that use the system-wide dictionary. So it occurs in Mail, Safari text boxes, TextEdit, etc.

Just for clarity, I'm not talking about the Dictionary application but the spelling feature. Although Dictionary uses the New Oxford American Dictionary as its source, it does reference British spelling and words we use here, which would probably be alien to our cousins in the USA.

Reply

Answer 5

Sep 16, 2009 12:41 PM in response to Kris Jones

Kris

I am using SL 10.6.1 and my dictionary does recognise, recognise without underlining the word in red, as shown here!

You need to update your profile as it does not indicate your using SL

Regards

Reply

Answer 6

Kris Jones Author

Level 1

59 points

Sep 16, 2009 1:15 PM in response to Peter Bovis

Thanks Peter. I've updated my profile.

I asked in the UK MacUser forum if others were having the same problem with Snow Leopard. It appears not so I don't think it's a general bug but something wrong on my system.

Reply

Answer 7

Sep 16, 2009 1:28 PM in response to Kris Jones

Kris

As you see here there are different glitches with SL, I have it seems been lucky, so far I have had only one problem and that has been sorted by reading these forums.

Even my software that is not on the list of compatible software, seem to work okay, yet others are reporting problems which I do not have.

Have you tried repairing "permissions" and then doing a re-start, it odd how such simple tricks solve seemingly impossible problems.

Good luck, be interested to know if you find an answer.

Regards

Reply

Answer 8

K T

Level 7

23,877 points

Sep 16, 2009 1:50 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Tom Gewecke wrote:
Dictionary.app has no connection with the OS X spellchecker.

They are connected via their heritage - Apple.

Apple has sensibly chosen British pronunciation over spelling as witnessed in Dictionary's prefs. The carryover is obvious.

Reply

Answer 9

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

115,922 points

Sep 16, 2009 1:59 PM in response to K T

The carryover is obvious.

There isn't any carryover. I have no problem running British English spelling checking on my system. If you can't do it, something is broken on yours.

Reply

Answer 10

Kris Jones Author

Level 1

59 points

Sep 16, 2009 4:18 PM in response to Peter Bovis

Unfortunately none of the familiar troubleshooting routines like verifying/repairing disks and permissions, deleting caches and logs, etc, makes any difference. It seems much more likely to me that I have a corrupted preference file. However, I know not which one, since I can't find out which one is responsible for Language and Text settings.

Reply

Answer 11

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

115,922 points

Sep 16, 2009 5:04 PM in response to Kris Jones

none of the familiar troubleshooting routines

Did you also try creating a new user and logging into that?

Reply

Answer 12

Kris Jones Author

Level 1

59 points

Sep 16, 2009 5:27 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

I've tried in two other user accounts. One I set the same language and text settings as my usual account. The result is the same. The other uses the default settings with English as opposed to British English. Again, the results are the same.

Reply

Answer 13

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

115,922 points

Sep 16, 2009 5:45 PM in response to Kris Jones

the results are the same.

That would seem to indicate a system level problem, but exactly what it could be is a mystery...

Reply

Answer 14

K T

Level 7

23,877 points

Sep 16, 2009 6:03 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

There isn't any carryover

With Apple having the final word on how both are deployed and configured in OS X, there can be nothing but carryover. They don't arrive at the user's desktop by separate routes. Think about the impact from that...the bigger picture. Any recent changes simply prove that out. Nothing's broken...just changed.

Reply

Answer 15

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

115,922 points

Sep 17, 2009 3:44 AM in response to Kris Jones

the results are the same.

Could you verify that in system preferences/language & text/text/spelling, you have British English listed, and that you have also gone to the bottom of that list to Setup and have only the box for British English checked?

Then in TextEdit, even with Edit > Spelling and Grammar > Show Spelling and Grammer indicating British English in the dictionary window, you still get a red line under "recognise" etc?

Reply