My friend Rob Morris reports that Henry “Lighthorse Harry” Lee (Robert E. Lee’s father), has been renamed:
[Lighthorse Harry] earned his nickname during the American War of Independence as commander of the Legion of Virginia. The nickname Lighthorse Harry has followed the man for over 200 years. Imagine dashing the dashing Lighthorse Harry, rallying his legionnaires as they complete the encirclement of Fort Watson in April, 1781. With a nickname like that, history remembers Lee as a man of action, forever in motion.
That is until spell-checking software anchored him on a rocky shore. It seems that “Lighthorse” isn’t an English word spoken in Redmond, Washington (home of Microsoft Word) or Ottawa, Ontario (Home of Corel WordPerfect). Their spell checkers want to change it from “Lighthorse” to “Lighthouse,” and they have.
Now various Web sites, including some at reputable locations — the University of Houston Library, the Texas Archival Resources Online, and other places — talk about Lighthouse Harry. As someone whose last name is changed by spell-checkers to Moloch, I empathize and protest.
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