Word Spy - speako

(SPEE.koh) n. An error in speaking, especially when dictating to a voice recognition system.

Example Citation:

"Speech recognition systems are seeing increased use in warehouses, although users must avoid substituting 'speakos' for 'typos' when designing the system. Strings of alphanumeric codes can be jumbled as easily when speaking as writing."
—Bert Moore, "Today's mobile devices give users more options," Frontline Solutions, March 1, 2001

Notes:

The word typo, an error in typing or printing, has been in the language since at least the early 1800s. (It actually began its life as a shortened form of the phrase typographical error.) Speako is the natural oral equivalent for the mistakes that occur when you're having what I like to call a "bad tongue day."

Some people have been trying to push wordo as the voice analog of typo, but that doesn't wash with me because it doesn't imply anything about speech. After all, a word can be misspoken or mistyped, so wordo could cut both ways. If you hear someone hawking "wordo," feel free to call them a weirdo.

It appears that speako first saw the light of print in 1995:

"Dear Editor: I was amused to read in 'Astrology: The answer is in the stars' a quotation from one Shelley Jordan, who claims that a part of her work 'has been just trying to dispense fear in people's minds of ... the world coming to an end.'
I suspect we are looking at either a typo or a speako here. Probably Jordan meant she was trying to disperse fear, not dispense it." —Richard S. Russell, "Don't Encourage Astrologers," Capital Times, May 30, 1995

Category:

General

Posted on October 19, 2001