Turn off word correction?

How do I turn off the feature (I think it is an OS X feature) that "corrects" words for me when I type? Too often, I mean a word, and it changes it, and it takes too much time to go back. Thanks.

To clarify, there is SPELLING correction (which results in a red underline if you misspell something, and should not be ignored because you don't want your reader thinking you're stupid), which can be set to automatically correct words as you type. Is this what you mean? If you have BADLY misspelled a word, it will be confused and will likely correct it to another word altogether, but again -- this means you have badly misspelled the word you intended. However, you can turn off the automatic correction and just get the red underline as I do by visiting the "Text" system preference panel in System Preferences and unchecking that option. It will still point out misspellings, but will stop correcting them on the fly.

Got it. Thank you.

It is annoying when you want to type something wrong on purpose, or if you want to abbreviate a word in the middle of a sentence.

For when you want to type something "rong" deliberately, there's a bubble with the corrected word and a tiny "X". Click the "X".

For using abbreviations in the middle of sentences, the dictionary knows the common ones, i.e. LOL and doesn't mark them, but generally you should avoid switching to abbreviations of regular words in sentences.

It ain't gooder English!

Tsk, tsk, chas_m. That should be "It aren't gooder English!"