ie "Object doesn't support property or method 'charAt'" error

[malissa]

Using version 3.4.0.

I get the error "Object doesn't support property or method 'charAt'" in internet explorer:

The problem seems to be with the variable 'word' being a function instead of a string:

When I put a breakpoint in the same place in chrome, it never actually enters that code block. Has anyone seen this before?

[malissa]

By the way I was able to fix this problem by getting rid of the gem and including datatables with a script tag.