Every Nokia phone I've had since 2001 has the word "Hitler" stored in its English dictionary. "Hitler" thus emerges as a word option for predictive texting. I could not for the life of me fathom in what possible context could "Hitler" be used in text messaging. There are no countries, towns, streets or landmarks named after Hitler, so nobody will have the need to convey, "Meet me at Hitler Square". "Hitler", in reference to the German Fuhrer himself, will have virtually no plausible usable contexts in communications with family, friends and professional contacts. (If you receive a text message saying, "I hate Hitler!", the only sober response could be "of course you do". Receive an SMS saying, "I love Hitler!", and its time to throw your phone into the nearest well or river.)
I will not pretend to remember what message I was composing when I learned that uncomfortable truth. I do remember though testing the names of other World War II leaders, wondering if the inclusion of Hitler was out of some desired historical equanimity. Roosevelt was in from the beginning, but Churchill made it only beginning with the Nokia 6600. On the other hand Mussolini has been excluded thus far from the Nokia dictionary.
Last night, I was with iPhoned friends and we ran the iPhone through the Hitler test. True enough, "Hitler" emerged as an option in the iPhone dictionary. Even stranger, so did "Mussolini". Perhaps Apple concluded that if we must include the preeminent fascist dictator, we might as well include all of them -- an evenhanded attitude that Nokia has yet to show.
One might find reason to be morally outraged over Hitler being in the Nokia dictionary. For me, it sets me speculating on what possible mindset frames the people who select the words worthy for inclusion in predictive texting -- these God of words tasked with judging which few words from the English language are worthy for the convenience of the right hand that composes text messages.
I will not pretend to remember what message I was composing when I learned that uncomfortable truth. I do remember though testing the names of other World War II leaders, wondering if the inclusion of Hitler was out of some desired historical equanimity. Roosevelt was in from the beginning, but Churchill made it only beginning with the Nokia 6600. On the other hand Mussolini has been excluded thus far from the Nokia dictionary.
Last night, I was with iPhoned friends and we ran the iPhone through the Hitler test. True enough, "Hitler" emerged as an option in the iPhone dictionary. Even stranger, so did "Mussolini". Perhaps Apple concluded that if we must include the preeminent fascist dictator, we might as well include all of them -- an evenhanded attitude that Nokia has yet to show.
One might find reason to be morally outraged over Hitler being in the Nokia dictionary. For me, it sets me speculating on what possible mindset frames the people who select the words worthy for inclusion in predictive texting -- these God of words tasked with judging which few words from the English language are worthy for the convenience of the right hand that composes text messages.
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