Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!ll-xn!mit-eddie!husc6!hscfvax!mohamed
From: mohamed@hscfvax.UUCP (750025@Mohamed_el_Lozy)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions,comp.text
Subject: Re: Problem with spell
Message-ID: <338@hscfvax.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 5-Mar-87 22:37:11 EST
Article-I.D.: hscfvax.338
Posted: Thu Mar  5 22:37:11 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 8-Mar-87 00:57:34 EST
References: <482@bcsaic.UUCP>
Reply-To: mohamed@hscfvax.UUCP (750025@Mohamed_el_Lozy)
Organization: Health Sciences Computing Facility, Harvard University
Lines: 15
Xref: mnetor comp.unix.questions:1322 comp.text:508

millions was stopped by the stop list.  Why?  ons is a non-word which
might be construed by spell as the plural of the valid word on.  Hence
ons is in the stop list.  The stop list is used like the main list, with
prefix and suffix strripping.  Hence millions is seen as a derivative
(milli-ons, like milli-meters) of a word on the stop list and is stopped.
Another one of my favorite stopped word is dishes (dis-hes, hes on stop
list as spurious plural of he).  Also microbes, micro-bes.  There are thre
or four others that I cannot remember at this late hour.

There is really no solution, short of a total (and perhaps needed) rewrite
of spell, a program that originated in the dark ages on a PDP without
separate I & D space.  For an excellnt review of the theory and implementation
of spell, see McIlroy, M. D. "Development of a Spelling List", IEEE Trans.
Communications, Jan 1982, 91-99.  Also an article in the Programming Pearls
column in comm ACM about a year ago.