I got thinking about this little pet hate of mine whilst reading through the spell-checker debate in this forum.

Does anyone else get frsutrated by Word '97's 'cheeky and amusing' paperclip seeking to dictate communication styles? Or by Word 2000's disturbing ability to automatically replace 'organise' with 'organize' without even so much as a by-your-leave? Now I have nothing against my American cousins, but our languages are distinctly different, (as my American girlfriend will testify) and I don't fancy being Americanised.

What can be done?!?

Has anyone got anyone got any creative ways to fight back against the Microsoft linguistic orthodoxy?

Is there a movement to ensure continued linguistic diversity in the English language?

Have any virus writers out there considered attacking the Microsft dictionary to insert amusing synonyms randomly in to documents authored in Word. (Personally I would target the word 'leverage'!).