From: bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com   
      
   On 02/10/2013 03:36 PM, Moe Trin wrote:   
   > On Sun, 10 Feb 2013, in the Usenet newsgroup alt.os.linux.mandriva, in   
   article   
   > , Bobbie Sellers wrote:   
   >   
   >> Jim Beard wrote:   
   >   
   >>> Adam wrote:   
   >   
   >>>> Sometimes I have no idea where spell checkers get their basic   
   >>>> list from. I think some of them must be decades old.   
   >   
   > That's a big old "that depends" - Mentioned in my other reply, I'm   
   > using two lists, one from the MOBY project (which was DOS shareware   
   > as I understand it) from 1988, and the Webster's Second International   
   > originally copyrighted in 1934.  Much of what I've seen has been   
   > created by inhaling huge quantities of text much as a classic   
   > dictionary creator would do.   
   >   
   >>> When spell-checkers first came into general use, I thought they   
   >>> were great. I just kept putting words the spell-checker did not   
   >>> know into the list it used, and all was great. Until a new OS or a   
   >>> new wordprocessing program came along, and all that effort was in   
   >>> the used bit bin.   
   >   
   > Let's qualify some of that - in UNIX, I'm used to the spell checker   
   > looking at a "word list" - currently in /usr/share/dict/ and (here in   
   > the USA) consisting of words in ASCII, one per line.  There's often a   
   > DSW going on about the lists, and problems with copyrights and such.   
   >  From the LSM:   
   > =========================   
   > Begin2   
   > Title         /usr/dict/words for Linux (linux.words)   
   > Version       2   
   > Desc1         This is word list containing 45402 words.  Great care has   
   > Desc2         been taken to be sure that this word list is free of   
   > Desc3         copyright.  This list is suitable for English language   
   > Desc4         spelling checkers and as a target for look(1).   
   > Author        Rik Faith   
   > AuthorEmail   faith@cs.unc.edu   
   > Maintainer    Rik Faith   
   > MaintEmail    faith@cs.unc.edu   
   > Site1         ftp.cs.unc.edu   
   > Path1         /pub/faith/linux/utils   
   > File1         linux.words.2.tar.gz   
   > FileSize1     140k   
   > Site2         tsx-11.mit.edu   
   > Path2         /pub/linux/docs   
   > Site3         sunsite.unc.edu   
   > Path3         /pub/Linux/libs   
   > CopyPolicy1   Free of non-commercial restrictions.   
   > CopyPolicy2   Free for personal, educational, and research purposes.   
   > Keywords      dict, dictionary, words, wordlist   
   > Entered       Sun Oct 10 19:02:47 1993   
   > EnteredBy     Rik Faith   
   > CheckedEmail  faith@cs.unc.edu   
   > End   
   > =========================   
   >   
   > but most distributions have far larger lists, and multiple languages.   
   >   
   > Those words that _you_ are adding go into a "personal" dictionary or   
   > word-list, and this is a dot-file in your home directory - examples   
   > such as "~/.ispell_english", "~/.hunspell_en_US" or "~/.aspell.en.pws"   
   > or similar.  Easiest way to find the personal list is to use the spell   
   > checker to check a document with an intentionally mis-spelled word,   
   > tell the spell checker to add that word to the dictionary, and then   
   > use 'ls -ldart .[a-z]* | tail'   
   >   
   > I'm not using windoze, and my word-processor is "/bin/vi", so I can't   
   > answer for what a real word processor might use/do.   
   >   
   >>         Does anyone know how to do this, back up the work   
   >> and add the modified dictionary to a new installation?   
   >   
   > This _MAY_ depend on the distribution - I've seen them using several   
   > different spell-checker programs, but as mentioned they tend to be   
   > using wordlists in /usr/share/dict/.   Some spell checkers allow you   
   > to add word-lists, and the hoop-jumping is described in the man-page.   
   >   
   >>         I have been thru the same hassle myself as my   
   >> posts to several list use specialised jargon and for   
   >> example medical terminology.   
   >   
   > Yup - that's true with many technical fields.   
   >   
   >> Adding to the dictionary seems to be broken.  There seems to be no   
   >> way to permanently add words in proper spellings to the things.   
   >   
   > 'ls -ldart ~/.[a-z]*'  and see if you can identify the "personal"   
   > word list.  These are (in the US) typically ASCII text, one word per   
   > line, and as such, generic across distributions and spell-checkers.   
   > the FILENAME may be something weird, but the contents are normal.   
   > Because I'm using a networked file-system, my home directory is on   
   > the file-server, and that is unchanged as I may replace computers,   
   > never mind distributions.  My current file has been around for a   
   > while, as it still has "Sunnyvale" and the street I used to live on   
   > there, neither of which were in the "Webster's Second International"   
   > (and I've been here for almost 17 years).   
   >   
   >          Old guy   
      
   	Thanks for the useful information.   
   	Maybe I will have time to dig around in the proper directories for the   
   .dic files soon.  But we have other flaws in that capitalised words are   
   supposed to be seen as proper names but the dictionary regularly fails   
   with Larkin and a few other names of streets here in the cool(58 F)   
   grey(sunny) city by the bay(aka San Francisco).   
      
   	bliss   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)