杏吧原创

I use predictive text on my cellphone. When I type the letter 鈥渜鈥� I get suggestions, all of which start with 鈥渜u鈥�. When I then press 鈥渦鈥�, I get different suggestions. Why? I realise it鈥檚 quite trivial, but I鈥檇 still love to know the answer.

鈥� When you type the letter 鈥渜鈥�, some words are suggested by the phone. If one of these words was the word you wanted to type, then the phone would expect you to select that word from the list rather than keep typing.

So, when you follow by pressing the letter 鈥渦鈥�, the phone assumes that the word you are typing hasn鈥檛 yet appeared in the list, and so it suggests some different words.

Catriona Quin, Dunblane, Perthshire, UK

This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淩ight Q鈥�