Today, I handed my PhD dissertation, which I have spent the past year researching and writing full-time. Last night, my roommate set an autocorrect on Word that changed "neither" to "nigger." I didn't notice until after I handed it in. My professor is black. FML
I agree, your life sucks (162085) - you totally deserved it (12702)
On 01/31/2009 at 6:40am - misc - by iloveapples - United States (Connecticut)
uh no, what the hell are you talking about? You can set autocorrect to replace any word with any other word.
#2 - On 02/03/2009 at 11:42am by what?
If you don't know how autocorrect works, dont comment on it. You can replace anything with anything. FYL, what did you ever do to deserve that?
#8 - On 02/06/2009 at 7:03pm by yes i went there
I'd assume the professor would understand that someone pulled a prank, especially if gotten to at a reasonable time afterwards.
Plus, neither is not a noun, while the replacement was. That's just bad grammar.
#9 - On 02/06/2009 at 7:29pm by random asshole
As a professor who has read a couple dozen theses, your professor will think nothing of it (except for your bad taste in roommates) if you: (1) immediately print out fixed copies; (2) go to him, explaining in full what occurred, and apologized profusely. And that will be the end of it.
#10 - On 02/07/2009 at 6:59am by br
after fixing it and turning it in overflowing with your most sincere apologies, duct-tape your room-mate to his bed, then sit on his bed and/or chest with a box cutter looking contemplative. Don't do anything, just sit there looking angry and creative.
#11 - On 02/08/2009 at 1:46am by a
A PhD thesis that takes only one year to research and write? Wow... I've been had.
#12 - On 02/08/2009 at 3:22am by Jane
I sincerely hope your roommate takes the heat for this stupid prank. Best of luck to you!
#13 - On 02/08/2009 at 6:13pm by Sibyl
man, people here are really getting offended... better hope his roommate isn't ludacris
#15 - On 02/08/2009 at 10:25pm by thesparrow
I found you on another message board still debating what college you'd be attending and asking questions about double-majoring and joining a sorority as recently as April 2005. How are you already presenting your PhD dissertation? Yes, i'm assuming that you're the only 'Iloveapples' on the internet. And you only spent a year on it? Does ITT/Devry give out PhDs now?
#18 - On 02/09/2009 at 5:30pm by FnkyTwn
#26...really....you searched the internet for them...that's kind of pathetic...
#20 - On 02/10/2009 at 2:14am by 87k
How is the guy who tried to verify the story any more of a loser than anybody else posting here? FAllOfOurLs for wasting time on this site, especially when most of them are bullshit stories. Dead fish swim with the stream.
#22 - On 02/11/2009 at 10:19am by fyls
My friend did something similar to me in highschool... I had him type my paper in 1st period while i dictated to him. I didn't read it and just printed and turned it in. He put tons of things like "Ms. Valentine has a hairy twat" all over it!
PhD dissertations usually require a certain modicum of intelligence to write. That amount of intelligence must exceed the amount of intelligence required to know that you never trust Microsoft Word's spelling/grammar check offhand. The intelligent person would proofread and edit by hand, page by page, because it's worth the time, and MS Word always fucks up 50% of everything it purports to correct. The intelligent person knows this. Therefore, I predict that your even getting to this level of your education must be a fluke, and if you are awarded the aforementioned doctorate, I pray to god that I never have the misfortune of needing your advice.
#25 - On 02/11/2009 at 10:24pm by jay
wow jay... we aren't looking for that kinda crap on this site. just tell him his life sucks and move on,
btw ur life DOES suck. Hopefully your teacher is understanding.
I'm sorry but if you didn't even proof read this paper that you worked so hard on it's your fault. This one doesn't sound real because who spends so much time on a paper and doesn't proof read it once.
#30 - On 02/12/2009 at 5:15pm by jon
You would think as he was typing he would see it change.
#32 - On 02/14/2009 at 2:01am by LandStander
Anyone else think that perhaps maybe the person did print out other copies to proofread and after making the final corrections, waited until the last minute to print it out? I know I've done that before. It'd sort of allow that time gap to be a perfect time for someone to pull a prank such as this.
#33 - On 02/14/2009 at 4:25am by E
FnkyTwn is right. This is not real.
GREAT comment Oscar.
#34 - On 02/14/2009 at 2:52pm by thescreendoorslams
If you want to get him back this is what you do.
1. Ruphie him
2. Put shaving cream on his balls
3. Put a carrot in his ass
4. Leave him near a place where a lot of people will see him in the morning
#35 - On 02/16/2009 at 1:40am by Trent Doggy Dizzle
PhDs take longer than one year to research & write. Sorry you're busted!
#37 - On 02/16/2009 at 8:09pm by busted
You should try and explain to your professor what happened. And then talk about geting your jackass room-mate out of your temporary house.
#38 - On 02/17/2009 at 7:05am by TAGM
I sincerely hope your roommate is not also seeking a doctorate... other than maybe in being a dumbass clown.
#41 - On 02/18/2009 at 2:38pm by zuz
What a bunch of crap, what auto correct would use that word???
#42 - On 02/19/2009 at 1:22am by JOE MONEY
1. PROVE IT.
2. Dear #2, autocorrect has nothing to do with using your brain. It just corrects commonly mistyped words, like turns "judgement" into "judgment." Duh.
3. You can report that to the board. And you should. Because that's totally fucked up.
4. #38, do you know how long PhD dissertations can be? It's not something you just breeze through before you turn it in.
#43 - On 02/19/2009 at 5:59pm by WhySoSassy?
THATS F@#% UP WHAT HAPPEN TO YOU WHAT WAS THE OUTCOME. DID YOU GET IN TROUBLE?
#44 - On 02/19/2009 at 11:58pm by BOSS LAYDEE
your room mate is a genius for that prank
and you're a dumbass for not proofreading
#47 - On 02/22/2009 at 2:04am by desi
you deserve it you should proof read everything for college courses especially your damn PhD dissertation
You deserve it for using MS Word for your PhD dissertation instead of LaTeX :-)
#52 - On 02/23/2009 at 10:44pm by wendel
funniest prank I have ever heard. next time check over your work though. I understand it is long and you've been staring at it for a year but words like that should just pop out at you.
yeah this person should have proofread. But as for it being extremely noticeable neither isn't THAT common of a word so it probably wasn't in there on every single page.
#54 - On 02/24/2009 at 10:41pm by k510
#59 #79 haha lmao
he should kick you out of the class!!!
and den have sum black people come and do his dirty work!! ... long story short
always proof read.....
OMG This is one of the funniest FMLs I've ever seen! shoot you're roomate though. Who would do that to a PhD dissertation? thats preety much the most important paper you will ever write.
#61 - On 02/26/2009 at 4:02pm by cloud
A friend sent me this, I'm writing a paper for class tomorrow, working on my masters. My prof is also black. Extremely unfortunate. Proofreading doesn't catch everything, and it can be a very daunting, draining task. Again, really f*cking glad it wasn't me. I would make a roommate regret the day they were born.
#62 - On 02/27/2009 at 1:33am by Trish
thats pretty bad man, and i feel for you, but thats also the best use of auto-correct i've ever heard of.
#63 - On 02/28/2009 at 5:54am by niether in the white house
All I keep thinking is that if a paper meant so much to you, you would have read it over, and over, and over again. I know I do that with ALL papers, big and small. Hell, I do that with the grocery list. You can blame most of this on yourself; if it was a typo like "and" and "adn" over and over again, I could kind of see how you would over look it. "Neither" and "nigger" look nothing alike.
#64 - On 02/28/2009 at 2:40pm by Jess
bahaha something i could see me doing to a friend, i'll keep this in mind.
#65 - On 02/28/2009 at 10:03pm by rawr
OMG THAT SUCKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#68 - On 03/03/2009 at 3:54pm by LifeSUCKS143
kill your room mate.that is NOT funny.and it's real offensive that people think this is funny it's not.and NOBODY should EVERRRRRR do this EVERRRR.
#69 - On 03/04/2009 at 5:42pm by taytay3696
To #33, Jay,
It's very nice that you took your time to make yourself sound as intelligent as possible, but it was all for naught, because you're wrong. This goes to all the others who posted without understanding how Word works.
I will say this just once. IT WAS NOT the autocorrect that changes "taht" to "that" as you type, for example. His roommate used the "Replace" function, and had Word find every entry of the word "neither" and replace it with "nigger", AFTER the paper was written. If he just added an "autocorrect" entry, it would not change those words already present in the document. He could have done this in seconds the night before he handed it in. I find it entirely believable that he could have done it when the author left his computer for a few moments.
There's no need to go insulting man's intelligence, with hardly a scrap of evidence.
I pray to God I never need the advice of someone such as you.
Here's wishing people would make informed comments once in a while.
You need to call that professor and tell him what happened. Hopefully, since you are a PhD candidate and presumably have a relationship of some sort with the professors in your department, he will know you are being truthful.
If your dissertation is denied, I would appeal to someone higher. Get your roommate to talk to the professor you turned it in to, if you can. If your roommate is simply crazy, then I would talk to a lawyer simply to cover all your bases--you may not have a lawsuit against the roommate, but you may need a lawyer to help you break your lease early.
Umm hello! Any1 wanna mention the fact that your room mates an obvious racist!
#73 - On 03/08/2009 at 5:49pm by andreawalton
#2 if you took a course on how to use word you would know that. Yeah thats... horrible I'm sure your prof would realize it was a mistake.... his roommate may have done it as a joke knowing his prof was black and being an ass... Sorry to hear.
#75 - On 03/10/2009 at 7:37pm by little_one
YOU DESERVE IT DUMBAS* why would you turn in something like that before reading it. as soon as that popped out of the printer you should of read it 3 times to make sure everything is set to go. wow you are dumb. also when you were typing it you should of noticed the words changing as you typed it. you need to look up at the monitor every so often anyway how could you not notice the word seriously it pretty much stands out lol
#77 - On 03/16/2009 at 8:13am by dontyouknow
Is there a bug on this FML? The comments/FYL/YDI don't add up... just wondering.
PS *loved* this prank. I hope you got a chance to explain yourself and set the record straight.
I think he's overplaying this. If he didn't know beforehand that his roommate changed all the words, he must have either asked him after his professor noticed it, or his roommate told him afterward, at which point he would explain this to his professor. His professor (most likely being understanding) would probably accept his apology.
:O This story better not be true! Fark, if that was me, there'd be a dead roommate buried in a shallow grave.
#87 - On 03/18/2009 at 11:32am by babydoll86
holy shit lol fuck that asshole up. that's a year's hard work. time for a fucking beat down
#89 - On 03/19/2009 at 3:30am by chuteboxe39
i agree with #89, he deserves a nice slap with a brick.
#90 - On 03/19/2009 at 1:53pm by amkoverboard
If this is real, doesn't seem to be, but if: You need to get that roomie out of your house, or you out of that house immediately. If you stay, you are more at fault than your jerk of a roomie.
#95 - On 03/20/2009 at 10:05am by 1st_time_caller_
Wouldn't somebody who's been in school long enough to be working on their Phd know to read the paper after it's printed to make sure the hard copy came out okay?
doesn't autocorrect change it as you type? how could you miss that? still though, that was kind of horrible of your roommate.
Were you able to explain it?
Also, why is your roommate such a dick?
#100 - On 03/27/2009 at 1:30am by ThereIsNoSpoon9
Thats awful. People can be so freaking immature. Would you ever do that to him?
#101 - On 03/27/2009 at 12:51pm by Storyofmylife77
You didn't browse it before you turned it in? I would have done that, esp. if I spent more than a week working on it!
#102 - On 03/30/2009 at 4:11pm by 415chick
Dude, you don't understand how hard I'm laughing. That's something my friends would do.
#104 - On 04/01/2009 at 5:32pm by chokeonair1
I feel like if you worked on this for a year you could have at least proof read it before you turned it in. That was pretty stupid. You deserve it.
Shit! I just read the other side of that story in Cosmo! He says you hit on his girl... though i don't think you deserve that if it was you he was talking about.
I'd say let your professor know, hopefully your roommate will get his ass beaten into a trash can, if not worse.
All deserved. That's really, really shitty to do... disrespect to ALL blacks least of all...
#109 - On 04/09/2009 at 7:28am by hellFighter
People that say you didn't proofread are as equally stupid as they're labeling you.
You can skim read over something twenty times, and /still/ miss a few grammatical errors.
It's not your fault; hopefully you explained to your professor what happened, and s/he will understand.
#110 - On 04/09/2009 at 10:44pm by mrsandmrporter
FYL and YDI for not proofreading an extremely important document
#111 - On 04/11/2009 at 4:08pm by lifebarelyeffed
You didn't read over it one last time before handing it in? Or had several different people proofread it? That's not some dinky paper, that's a freaking dissertation. That thing should be combed through backwards and forwards, and one last time (or two ) before you hand it in. I know it's really long, but c'mon, that's really, really important. Important things deserve that much time and attention. I mean, why didn't you have one or two (hell, even three!) people proofread the final copy just for a last sweep?
I don't think you deserve it, but c'mon, you did have it coming. I hope your professor is the understanding type.
#113 - On 04/22/2009 at 2:23pm by simplewhimsy
why wouldn't you have proofread it?
thats your fault. your roommate probably assumed you read important papers before handing them in.
why would it matter that your professor is black? Wouldn't he be offended no matter what? btw yes this is a fake story becuz those kind of papers dont take a year.... it takes about 3.
#117 - On 05/06/2009 at 2:38am by nemesistwo
There re some lines that just shouldn't be crossed your roommate crossed it
#119 - On 05/10/2009 at 3:29pm by wrestler17
Roommate must die.
But, don't you know the difference between the 'replace' function on Word and 'autocorrect'? You sure as hell confused a shitload of people on here.
Oh, u r SO failing
And its ur comp's fault, not the room mate's...why does your computer even have that in its dictionary? I say sue.
#122 - On 05/18/2009 at 5:55pm by gigirules19
Well you're screwed now, because I don't think he'll believe you no matter what you say.
#127 - On 05/24/2009 at 7:25pm by Mustcomment
sounds like it time to introduce your fist to your friends face lol
Im all about jokes but damn. not when it could get someone else in trouble...
#132 - On 06/09/2009 at 9:58pm by 10001110101
it was added to the dictionary. geez, I though I've heard it all.
#134 - On 06/16/2009 at 8:43pm by AlreadyExistsTH
YDI for not proofreading your paper before handing it in,
#138 - On 06/23/2009 at 11:52pm by jessicaclaire
that is so made up, word would never have that word in its dictionary to replace neither with and it only corrects common mistakes
umm you can add any word you want to the dictionary on word.
#141 - On 07/18/2009 at 10:44pm by skatexas22
well it shouldn't make sense so why are you making such a big deal, you fool?
#142 - On 07/24/2009 at 3:03pm by amaneylandx3
That is the worst thing I ever heard in my life. It doesn't really make sense that auto correct would make that particular change of wording, but either way it's hilarious and terrible for you! That is truly an FML if I've ever heard one.
Am I the only one who has read this EXACT FML 3 times this year.... this seems like a common problem or a lie.
Why are dissertations so hard to do? I finished my in a matter of 4 hours.
#153 - On 09/18/2009 at 6:27pm by cannibalcorpseXD
dude, if that was my roomate, hed be in the hospital for a very long time, immature little prick.
#156 - On 10/22/2009 at 1:14am by jazzmancarron
WOW. i'm sorry that happened to you i know how something like that feels though not in that big scale... it made me laugh... A LOT!!!!! it's hilarious, though i hope it didn't go as bad as i think!!! smile? :)
#157 - On 10/23/2009 at 1:48am by What_Ef_That
I changed 'this' to 'shit' on a friend's final piece of English Literature coursework... 'Twas worth it...
#163 - On 12/03/2009 at 11:08am by flying_vegan
if i were you, i would totally get revenge on my roomate; like seriously WTF ?!
&&+ to tell you the truth, its not even that funny at ALL.
#165 - On 12/14/2009 at 5:27pm by terriibabiiix23
Ok, i have to admit, i giggled a little when i read it, but man thats harsh, tottaly uncalled for. i would beat the shit out of ur roomate
#166 - On 12/15/2009 at 8:21am by Bigboss619
thats SO horrible...i cant believe he did that. he must really hate you. i'm so sorry...you have to get him back ASAP. and of course try to explain to your teacher, cos no matter how awkward it is, itll be better than not mentioning it.
how did you not spellcheck it first though? that seems a little weird to me...
How can you not notice that? Autocorrect only corrects while writing (after writing a word and press enter/space/punctuation mark) so I can't see how you can miss that. It would be different if he used the find+replace function, that can be used afterwards.
Still, YDI for not proofreading several times (I proofread everything at least twice, let alone stand something that important) before handing it in and not securing your computer/account with a good password.
