"yet if i add a word in OO.writer, it is still marked as unknown in gedit. if i add a word in gedit it is still marked as unknown in pidgin."
The above would be expected behaviour, since it is about adding words to the custom dictionary. And since each applications creates its own custom dictionary, and since these dictionaries are not shared, that means that the above behaviour is expected and normal.
"yet if i add a word in OO.writer, it is still marked as unknown in gedit. if i add a word in gedit it is still marked as unknown in pidgin."
The above would be expected behaviour, since it is about adding words to the custom dictionary. And since each applications creates its own custom dictionary, and since these dictionaries are not shared, that means that the above behaviour is expected and normal.