Q. I get so tired of reading about writers using their “spell-checkers” on their computers. Surely they mean “spelling-checkers” don’t they? I’ve always thought that only wizards use “spell-checkers”—what do you think? I love CMOS—read it all the time—I start browsing and I can’t stop! Thanks again for a great resource!
A. You could think of “spell-check” as convenient shorthand for “spelling checker” (links are to the entries for these terms in Merriam-Webster). We doubt that a wizard is responsible for the abbreviated term, though spell-checkers are pretty nifty.