What's in a name?

Many years ago, at the very start of my journalistic career, I was fascinated for weeks – if not months – by the fax machine. It seemed impossible. Like the time machine. I sent my first newspaper report by telex. I can’t even remember how that worked.

Seven years later I was introduced to the mobile phone. On South Africa’s first overseas Test tour following the one-off against the West Indies in Bridgetown, Barbados, we visited Sri Lanka where I was issued with a ‘mobile’ the size of a breeze block and weighing seven kilogrammes.

A few years later, in India, there were no mobiles – either of the mobile or immobile variety. In fact, it was back to the fax. And in some cases, dictation. Though the telephone line quality made that almost impossible.

After two and a half decades of hunching over type-writer and laptops, the idea of being able to dictate ‘copy’ was more appealing than ever. But my eyebrows were raised with far more than hope than expectation when I heard that it was now possible to purchase a computer programme which typed what you spoke. Science fiction? I thought so. But it really does exist!! And I have been using it more and more for the last couple of weeks. Having gone through of ‘training’ process lasting 15-20 minutes during which you ‘teach’ the computer to recognize your voice, it then scans your saved documents to familiarize itself with your writing style.

And here’s the really weird thing. It works!! Well, mostly. It’s brilliant for e-mails, letters and straightforward correspondence. It even helped me with a couple of lengthy preview articles on the ICC T20 World Cup this week. The only ‘down’ side, at least initially, is that names are unfamiliar. It learns from corrections, however, so things will improve.

My first attempt at reading the Proteas squad to my laptop was not a complete success. Neither was my second. But, for the sake of amusement, read them as you have never seen them before. As interpreted by a computer. TWICE!

Standard Bank Pro20 squad: Graeme Smith, loops Bosman, Jacques Kallis, Herschel Gibbs, a beadily as, JP do many, Mark Bouchier, he had bought, we offer them over, albie morkel, Mornay morkel, Dale Steyn, Rory climb felt, rusty to run, shoulder and I felt.

Graeme Smith, looked sportsmen, Jacques Kallis, Herschel Gibbs, a beadily as, JP do many, marked out her, you have and what are, Rudolph and over, albie morkel, Mornay morkel, Dale Steyn, Rory climb felt, rusty Tehran, jowel Langer felt.