When you work in an international IT firm in the future, you might need to think about this! 
Apostrophe -> '
March 11, 2008
IT can stop you from voting, destroy your dental appointments, make it difficult to rent a car or book a flight, even interfere with your university exams.
More than 50 years into the information age, computers are still confused by the apostrophe. It is a problem familiar to O'Connors, D'Angelos, N'Dours and D'Artagnans around the world.
When Niall O'Dowd tried to book a flight to Atlanta earlier this year, the computer system refused to recognise his name.
The editor of the Irish Voice newspaper could book the flight only by changing the way his name was written. "I dropped the apostrophe and ran my name as ODowd," he says.
It is not just the bad luck of the Irish. French, Italian and African names with apostrophes befuddle computer systems, too. So do Arabic names with hyphens, and Dutch surnames with van separated by spaces from other parts of the name.
Michael Rais, director of software development at Permission Data, an online marketing company in New York, says the problem is sloppy programming.
"It's standard shortsightedness," he says. "Most programs set a rule for first name and last name. They don't think of foreign-sounding names." The trouble can happen in two ways, according to Rais.
One: online forms typically have a filter that seeks unfamiliar terms that might be put in by mistake or as a joke. A bad computer system will not be able to handle an apostrophe, a hyphen or a gap in a last name and will block it immediately.
Two: Even if the computer system is capable enough to welcome an O'Brien or Al-Kurd, the name must be stored in the database, where a hyphen or apostrophe is often mistaken for a piece of computer code, corrupting the system.
That is what happened at the Michigan Democratic Party caucus in 2004, when thousands of O'Connors, Al-Husseins, Van Kemps and others did not have their votes counted.
"It was a computer system the party slapped together and a lot of people were left out who were registered to vote - it was a real pity," Michigan political consultant Mark Grebner says.
In this year's primaries, the system worked much better, according to the Michigan Democratic Party.
Still, an apostrophe, hyphen or space can interfere with medical and dental records, gym memberships, online searches and school registration.
Dutch-American proofreader Jessica van Campen has seen her name listed as Jessica Vancampen, Jessica Van, Jessicavan Campen, Jessica Campen and Jessican Kampen by uncertain computer systems. When she went to her final exams in college, she was listed under Campen and was told Jessica Van Campen had dropped out of the course.
All this confusion has prompted some people to surrender to technology. Iraqi immigrant Lina Alathari was once known as Lina Al-Athari but dropped the hyphen in America. "There is no pronunciation difference, so I'm fine with it."
Erin Carney D'Angelo, a lawyer in New York, was born apostrophe-free, but took one on when she married her Italian-American husband. But "he told me to drop the apostrophe when filling out forms, so to computers I'm a Dangelo", she says.
The problem is difficult to correct because computer systems have many ways of recognising names, Rais says.
"Basically, a lot of programmers forget that a growing portion of the US public are not called John Smith or Mary White."
"Maybe we should just drop the apostrophe altogether," O'Dowd says."
AP
Apostrophe -> '
March 11, 2008
IT can stop you from voting, destroy your dental appointments, make it difficult to rent a car or book a flight, even interfere with your university exams.
More than 50 years into the information age, computers are still confused by the apostrophe. It is a problem familiar to O'Connors, D'Angelos, N'Dours and D'Artagnans around the world.
When Niall O'Dowd tried to book a flight to Atlanta earlier this year, the computer system refused to recognise his name.
The editor of the Irish Voice newspaper could book the flight only by changing the way his name was written. "I dropped the apostrophe and ran my name as ODowd," he says.
It is not just the bad luck of the Irish. French, Italian and African names with apostrophes befuddle computer systems, too. So do Arabic names with hyphens, and Dutch surnames with van separated by spaces from other parts of the name.
Michael Rais, director of software development at Permission Data, an online marketing company in New York, says the problem is sloppy programming.
"It's standard shortsightedness," he says. "Most programs set a rule for first name and last name. They don't think of foreign-sounding names." The trouble can happen in two ways, according to Rais.
One: online forms typically have a filter that seeks unfamiliar terms that might be put in by mistake or as a joke. A bad computer system will not be able to handle an apostrophe, a hyphen or a gap in a last name and will block it immediately.
Two: Even if the computer system is capable enough to welcome an O'Brien or Al-Kurd, the name must be stored in the database, where a hyphen or apostrophe is often mistaken for a piece of computer code, corrupting the system.
That is what happened at the Michigan Democratic Party caucus in 2004, when thousands of O'Connors, Al-Husseins, Van Kemps and others did not have their votes counted.
"It was a computer system the party slapped together and a lot of people were left out who were registered to vote - it was a real pity," Michigan political consultant Mark Grebner says.
In this year's primaries, the system worked much better, according to the Michigan Democratic Party.
Still, an apostrophe, hyphen or space can interfere with medical and dental records, gym memberships, online searches and school registration.
Dutch-American proofreader Jessica van Campen has seen her name listed as Jessica Vancampen, Jessica Van, Jessicavan Campen, Jessica Campen and Jessican Kampen by uncertain computer systems. When she went to her final exams in college, she was listed under Campen and was told Jessica Van Campen had dropped out of the course.
All this confusion has prompted some people to surrender to technology. Iraqi immigrant Lina Alathari was once known as Lina Al-Athari but dropped the hyphen in America. "There is no pronunciation difference, so I'm fine with it."
Erin Carney D'Angelo, a lawyer in New York, was born apostrophe-free, but took one on when she married her Italian-American husband. But "he told me to drop the apostrophe when filling out forms, so to computers I'm a Dangelo", she says.
The problem is difficult to correct because computer systems have many ways of recognising names, Rais says.
"Basically, a lot of programmers forget that a growing portion of the US public are not called John Smith or Mary White."
"Maybe we should just drop the apostrophe altogether," O'Dowd says."
AP
