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+--- Thread: Article The surprisingly subtle ways Microsoft Word has changed how we use language (/thread-14890.html)
The surprisingly subtle ways Microsoft Word has changed how we use language - C C - Nov 2, 2023
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20231025-the-surprisingly-subtle-ways-microsoft-word-has-changed-the-way-we-use-language
EXCERPTS: For 40 years there’s been an invisible hand guiding the way many of us write, work, and communicate. Its influence has been pervasive, yet its impact has been subtle to the extent that you’ve likely never noticed. That invisible hand is Microsoft Word.
[...] Ironically, given its ubiquity, Word has rarely been a pioneer when it comes to features. As mentioned, it was far from the first word processor...
Yet Word’s superpower was using smart, simple design choices to make such features accessible to a global audience, not just techies. Its [...] design philosophy is now commonplace in software and on the internet...
[...] If you take this idea of professional conformity a step further, Word has also been significant in helping establish English as the global language of business...
[...] Word's spell-checker and grammar features have become subtle arbiters of language, too. Although seemingly trivial, these tools "promote a sense of consistency and correctness", says Wolf...
[...] This becomes even more invasive when you look at the role and impact of autocorrect and predictive text...
[...] Wolf adds that by promoting uniformity in written communication, grammar and spelling features in word processors such as Word "enforce established language norms".
[...] Such tools play a broader role in the evolution of language more generally, too...
[...] Similarly, the efficiency brought about by standardisation can shape how we write, not just what we write. When clarity is put ahead of stylistic or poetic flair – Word's grammar checker has a specific "clarity" refinement option – it can have implications for how we value forms of creativity.
[...] Yet there’s no denying Word has improved accessibility and diversity in myriad other ways. By bringing word processing into people's homes, it has empowering more people to write, create and contribute. This increases diversity of voice, rather than impeding it. In 2018, Microsoft added dictation features into Word to empower people with dyslexia and dysgraphia to easily type with their voice. It is one of a number of accessibility features in the software.
In the early days of its adoption, word processing was even linked with promoting greater, not worse, essay-writing prowess...
[...] According to Wolf, word processing has taken some of the cognitive load out of writing, which allows more space for creativity...
[...] This has the potential to become even more impactful as artificial intelligence (AI) is integrated into word processing. But opinion is divided... (MORE - missing details)