1. A computer-implemented method for intuitively applying scratch-out gestures in a computing device that comprises a handwriting surface component that receives electronic ink from a digitizer, as well as a component that provides boundary information corresponding to boundaries of words or characters and a scratch-out gesture detector coupled to the handwriting surface component and the component that provides the boundary information, wherein the scratch-out gesture detector also evaluates electronic ink received at the handwriting surface against criteria based on the boundary information to determine whether the electronic ink corresponds to any of a plurality of different acceptable scratch-out gesture types, the method comprising: the scratch-out gesture detector associating a plurality of different acceptable types of scratch-out gestures with a scratch-out gesture process that erases previously-entered ink; the computing device receiving user input corresponding to inking data entered via a digitizer at a handwriting surface component of the computing device; the scratch-out gesture detector evaluating the inking data based on boundary threshold data of at least one corresponding word or character displayed by the computing device to determine whether the user input is a scratch-out gesture corresponding to at least one of the plurality of different acceptable types of scratch-out gesture types and that would cause the scratch-out process to erase previously-entered ink; and wherein a) if the inking data is a scratch-out gesture, erasing previously-entered ink corresponding to the scratch-out gesture, as well as the inking data corresponding to the scratch-out gesture; and b) if the inking data is not a scratch-out gesture, processing the inking data as ink stroke data of at least part of a word or character.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein the inking data is received at a boxed writing area as a possible scratch-out gesture, and wherein the boundary threshold data is based on a width of a box of a previously recognized character that the stroke intersects.