Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.‘Twas billing, and the smithy toes
Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There [before and after a spell check]
Did gyre and gamble in the wage:
All missy were the brogues,
And the mime rats outrage.
Language: Nonsense
A spell check is sometimes a more complicated process than you might think. Although it is not commonplace, certain creative output is designed around the deliberate misuse of English. In such cases, finding the unintentionally misspelled words among those deliberately misspelled is far from simple.
I wonder if Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) had an editor—and, if so, just how well the two of them got along. It would have been important for the two of them to be in rapport.
This is one of those situations where context is important, as is the aphorism some rules are meant to be broken. Although it is often better to follow a set of standard guidelines, we do so to ensure the best possibility of effective communication with a reader. Sometimes, what we want the reader to understand is better served by breaking a rule.
Dodgson wanted to write a poem using nonsense words that still had meaning within the context of their use—and to do so without calling attention to them.