I type the following in TextEdit and Notes on my mac (11.7.10, Intel):
Just to overt.
Just to overt go.
Just to overt goi.
Just to overt goin.
Just to overt going.
Just to overt going on.
Just tu overt going.
Just toi overt going.
Just to overt.
The only words underlined in red as unrecognized are “tu”, “toi”, and “to” in the last 3 lines but not in the first 3 or final line. Why is this? I check the ascii codes in Terminal and they are the same in all 7 lines containing “to”.
Right now at least, this only seems to affect native programs, for example on StackExchange in Firefox, all expected words are underlined (tu, toi, goi, goin) but when I edit the same post in Safari I get the same behavior as Notes and Text Edit but if I create a new line the underline might appear or disappear but it ONLY appears or disappears for the “to” in lines 4-6. I have checked all visible user changes to the dictionary and of course the word “to” is in the dictionary, also the word can be looked up in all 7 lines and returns the correct definition for “to” despite ctrl + click suggesting I replace it with “too”.
I understand a good “fix” for this problem might be to reinstall a clean copy of the OS but I would really like to identify the change causing the behavior first so I can check for it again (it also affects other words such as “by”), whatever is changing the attributes of the characters I type.
So I think there is some algorithm which changes what I type as the characters themselves seem to be modified in a way that only the operating system can interpret. I don’t think it’s a bug, I think some oversight in the software has been taken advantage of by a malicious actor.
Some more examples:
Just to overt going.
Just to overt doing.
Just to overt having.
Just to overt swimming.
Just to overt knitting.
Just to overt welding.
Just to overt simming.
Just to overt knitaing.
Just to overt weling.
Just to overt kniting.
Just to overt kkniting.
Just to overt knituing.
Can you guess which groups have “to” underlined?
Groups 1, 3, and 5.
Another reason why I don’t want to wipe the OS, I strongly believe this interference has been tailored to me specifically (based on words I use and my usage patterns) and so it’s particularly important I find out how in order to better understand why in order to avoid this kind of sabotage in the future (not just in macOS, especially with the existence now of malware on mobile operating systems which apparently cannot be traced or wiped).
