I read about these unlucky people with names that break computers!
When Jennifer Null tries to buy a plane ticket, she often gets an error message. In computer terminology “NULL” means empty, so many websites will say she has left the surname field blank and ask her to try again.
Or consider if your family name is Teh. Your name is almost impossible to type in tools like Microsoft Word, which auto correct Teh to The.
This is a real problem for Hawaiian Janice Keihanaikukauakahihulihe’ekahaunaele, whose last name exceeds the number of characters the programmers allowed.
The XKCD comic below is a rather extreme example of this same idea.
And did you know ^_^@ccp.com.au is a valid email address, a fact you can test for yourself 😉
The BBC article is here if you feel like reading more on this subject.
I’m off to go change the email on my business cards to ^_^@ccp.com.au
