THE JACKASS PHENOMENON

Beware firing off e-mails too quickly or you might end up with huge amount of oeuf on your visage. Apart from missing off file attachments, which we have all done, the automatic spell check facility can sometimes wreak havoc with any well-intentioned narrative. I was copied an e-mail recently which read: 'Apologies, I will not be attending today's meeting - left in Jackass’ capable hands - I will however be attending the next meeting on 10 September.' I thought 'Jackass – who on earth's Jackass when he or she is at home? Is Jackass a nickname, a sobriquet, a nom de plume? Or is it someone whom the sender thinks is a clodpoll, a buffoon, an imbecile?' That wouldn't narrow the field down too much - A great many of the people with whom I've come into contact in my long and mundane life might fall into that category. Literally seconds later, I received a second e-mail, which read 'Sorry, my auto spell check converted 'Jackie's' into 'jackass' and I hit the 'send' key too quickly.' I could almost taste the humiliation of the embarrassed party. I wondered later whether perhaps this was a mischievous spell-checker with a highly developed sense of humour. They say you can work wonders with computers these days - I believe it's due to all those gigabytes, if not terrabytes, whatever they are.