New site for The Preferred Australian English spellcheck dictionary

Recently Google changed their algorithm which significantly impacted the position of the Australian English spellcheck dictionary in the Google search results. From number one position to nowhere to be found. In essence traffic to the site dropped 80% overnight. This should be a warning for anyone who puts a lot of time and money into obtaining a position in Google. All your time, energy and money could be wasted overnight by decisions Google makes in terms of generating traffic to your site.

The preferred Australian English spellcheck dictionary is the only free service available to Australians to assist them with using the preferred Australian English spelling. Over a thousand people a week used the site and Google simply changed their algorithm making the page almost impossible to find. The original page will remain (www.justlocal.com.au/clients/oooau), but in addition, you can now find the main page at www.Australian-Dictionary.com.au.

 

The site www.Australian-Dictionary.com.au will become the main site for my dictionary work.

 

You can still find the main page if searching (“Australian Dictionary”) using Bing, where the site is positioned in first position and in Yahoo where the site is positioned second. My apologies for any inconvenience. What Google does is outside of my control.

I hope you find my work to be of assistance.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au   

Misogyny. Did the Prime Minister perhaps use the wrong word. Why did Macquarie dictionary say they were going to change the meaning?

The word misogyny has certainly received a lot of airtime recently. I personally didn’t know what the word meant and when I ask others, they didn’t know either. Macquarie has decided to broaden the meaning of the word but you have to ask the question why?

If I check the Oxford online, British and American language editions, there is no broader meaning. If I check the Merriam Webster online for American use there is no broader definition there either. Just that misogyny is the hatred of women.

Could it be in the thrust and pary of politics perhaps Julia used a word that wasn’t most appropriate.

If you want to check the meaning (or spelling) of words in Australian English you can use the page I provide http://www.justlocal.com.au/clients/oooau/. If you’d like the check the American English meaning or spelling I now provide a free online American English spellcheck dictionary which provides a link to enable you to look up the meaning of a word at www.american-dictionary.com.

Please enjoy.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
The creator of The Preferred Australian English Spellcheck Dictionary.

 

Australian dictionary online

If you’re looking for a free online Australian dictionary, visit the Preferred Australian English dictionary page. Enter the word you wish to check. The spelling is checked and you’ll be presented with a list of suggestions where you can click on a link and check the meaning for a word.

The preferred Australian English dictionary is the only free online dictionary which provides the preferred Australian English spelling. Don’t fall into the trap of using a free online American dictionary as the local primary school has done. That doesn’t help anyone. Use the preferred Australian English spelling.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Creator of the preferred Australian English dictionary.

 

Reports from people they can't find the free Australian dictionary using Google

Until recently over a thousand people a week were able to search for and find the only Australian dictionary which provided the  preferred Australian English spelling for free. It appears Google may have updated their search algorithm which has caused the site to disappear from their search results.

Unfortunately there is nothing I can do. If even a small percentage of people who used the dictionary provided a link to the page this would let Google know they feel the page is important. My logs unfortunately suggest almost no one bothers to provide a link, but people use the dictionary and disappear. That’s normally OK but unfortunately without giving something back such as a link Google is not able to tell how important the dictionary is to others.

I’ve found Google as a search engine is getting worse and worse. They provide distorted results pushing their own agenda to the top and (maps, local listings, etc.) and more recently people find their own pages and pages they’ve visited closer to the top which makes them think they are doing better in Google results than they are.

I find it quite amazing how Google operates. Over 50,000-100,000 people a year have been using the dictionary I provide and now people can’t find it.

 

If you want to find the dictionary you may wish to use Bing. The page is the second in the results. A better approach is to use JustLocal (www.JustLocal.com.au) where you’ll find the Australian Dictionary plus many of my other tools.

Sorry to everyone for the inconvenience. Unfortunately I can’t control what Google does and you never know when they are going to change things. Best to bookmark the page if you’re using a desktop computer or if you’re using a mobile phone, add an icon to your home screen.

It is always possible the page may return to Google search results. I’ve seen pages disappear and return in Google in the past. With Google you never know what to expect.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Creator and maintainer of the preferred Australian English spelling dictionary.

Are spellcheckers making invalid spelling suggestions? E.g. spell check for spellcheck.

A flaw of nearly all modern programs which include a spellchecker, including Firefox, Google Chrome, OpenOffice.org, Microsoft Office and others, is if they don’t know a word they’ll make suggestions by splitting the word into two words.

For me the most obvious example of this I see regularly on the internet is the word “spellcheck”. If you type “spellcheck” into almost any program which includes a spellchecker you’ll get a number of suggestions. One of the suggestions is “spell check” and thus a very large number of people incorrectly end up using the words “spell check” in their document.

As far as I can determine for America (using the Merriam-Webster online dictionary), the word is hyphenated as in “spell-check”. For Australia the word “spellcheck” is valid and is a backformation from spellchecker, according to the Fifth Edition of the Macquarie Dictionary. The word “spellcheck” is also documented in The Australian Oxford Dictionary, Second Edition.

The preferred Australian English dictionary I’ve created (and still working on) includes the correct spelling “spellcheck”. If you are not sure if you are using the correct spelling, or the preferred Australian English spelling of a word, check the word using Word Check.

A feature of Word Check is you can check the meaning of words using the online Oxford Dictionary (there is no free online Australian English dictionary which provides the meaning of words). In this case when checking “spellcheck” using the online Oxford Dictionary, which provides British + World English and US English, the information returned for US English I’d suggest is not correct. As mentioned above, in US English the word is hyphenated whilst the online Oxford Dictionary suggests it should be a single word.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Creator of the preferred Australian English dictionary.

Favourite or Favorite?

When using your browser you could be forgiven for thinking the spelling should be “favourite”. The problem is the user interface for a lot of software used in Australia uses American English spelling. Over time, because we see the spelling so often, we start to believe the spelling is correct.

You can often download a UK version of a browser which can be better, but it may still not be the best for Australia. Unfortunately, except for the Opera browser where I previously provided an Australian English spelling user interface, it is not possible to easily change the spelling used in the user interface.

For the time being, the best approach is to remain confident in your spelling ability and know the spelling is “favourite”.

If you are in doubt whether or not the spelling of a word is the preferred Australian English spelling, you can use the online tool I provide called Word Check.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Creator of the preferred Australian English spelling dictionary.

 

Is it practice or practise?

As I was driving to get onto the Greensborough ring road, I saw a billboard which had the statement, "PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT". I thought, "surely that can't be right".

I decided to do some research and as it turns out it is right, but not for the obvious reason. Most people could easily believe it should be "practise makes perfect". If you practise your driving you will become perfect.

In MyAnswers solution 2246 I share my insight into the words practice and practise.

The Australian dictionary related solutions in MyAnswers are available free on request to all clients and those supporting my dictionary work by either contribution or purchasing one of the low cost dictionary products I produce.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au