Microsoft to launch regional dialect spell check Abyeut time an' aaal

14 June 2007 13:17 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Following on from a special project to complile local dialect dictionaries from all across Britain, Microsoft will be making the results available for free download in July.

By downloading the dialects you can ensure that your spell checker within Microsoft programs will recognise regional British slang/words and not flag them up as typos or spelling mistakes.

A similar scheme was carried out last in Australia where Aussie slang, "Strine", was likewise compiled so that Australians could email an invite to a mate to come over for some "tinnies" and a "barbie" without getting red-lined by Outlook's spell check.

Recognising that although we Brits may all speak the same language, but with quite dramatic regional differences, the software giant undertook the massive project with help from the British Library.

Users were asked to submit their favorite dialect words and Microsoft reportedly received thousands of responses, which it has filtered into dictionaries for different areas.