spell-correction bug for aussies?

'television' corrected to 'television television'

[jesserud]

A friend in Australia reports that Google corrects "television" to "television television".

Fixes the bug:
* Switching to an inactive datacenter (currently www-sj or www-zu).
* Using a US-based proxy.

Does not fix the bug:
* Switching between the 7 active datacenters.
* Removing URL parameters other than q=.
* Using www.google.co.uk (even though this causes him to see .uk ads).
* Using Internet Explorer instead of Mozilla.

Can anyone in Australia (or with access to an Australian proxy) confirm or disconfirm? Also, is there any evidence other than this that Google uses country-specific databases for English spelling correction?

[Pegasus]

Yes, I've seen this. It does it with all kinds of things.

You type in a two-word search term, in the format "A B".

It's amusing to click on their suggested "A B B" suggestion, and see it come up with "Did you mean A B B B?"

You can keep going ad infinitum :)

[takagi]

Similar problem in Germany for 'website': google germany - the "did u mean" thing [webmasterworld.com].

[Chris_D]

Hi Jesserud,

I hadn't noticed that before - but yes - it does do it.

"television" to "television television".

Interestingly, it does the same thing whether I do the search from www.google.com or www.google.com.au

Chris_D
Sydney Australia

[AussieMike]

I've been noticing this for a few days now, didn't realise it was possibly just us Skips that were affected.

We've always had trouble with spelling corrections because down here we speak English or Australian, not American. And no Google, I never mean Optimization I always mean Optimisation, just like I type it.