I do typos and am fine with it. I think people should be satisfied that we are taking the time out of our schedule to provide them with meaningful information and resources.

When I make a mistake, I typically get a comment, an email or a Facebook message telling me that I did. My mom actually patrols my blog on occasion and corrects it.

To me, although it might slightly impact your personal brand by doing typos, in the grand scheme of things, it’s better to get the message across.

I won’t bitch you that you need spellchecker, but why not an editor? Everyone is improved by an editor when they write, and it wouldn’t cost you much. This is your livelihood, and as you’re always telling us, it’s worth investing in that a little.

No matter how much you tell us it is outdated, people will still be distracted by errors. Their reading of your piece will stumble, their focus and attention will be lost to you. Yes, they’ll understand your point, but it’ll have been a little jolted. Writing to be read is like composing music, and good writing should really flow. This isn’t about judgement, it’s about whether you detract from your point with distracting flaws.

(Just as an FYI, my RSS reader shows up the corrected versions when it updates feeds as ‘edited’ versions of the original, so your posts turn up with red words with lines through them, etc. It doesn’t look very professional)

* * * * * * *
Hi. An editor is really different than a proofreader. I have an editor, and I send a draft of just about every post to him before I publish. The editor is not there to check spelling (although invariably, he does). He is there to tell me things like “this post is not useful” or “this post is boring”. This sort of editor seems very important for a blog, but to be honest, it’s expensive.

–Penelope

This post really speaks to me because I recently got hit by the spelling police lurkers at Brazen Careerist. The comments section of my article from BC is way different than the comments we receive at http://www.newlycorporate.com where the article was first published. I don’t mind getting the complaint it makes me aware of areas of opportunity.

I agree with your points but I expect to see some harsh criticism in the comments section later in the day from the people who are critical of spelling. A lot of the critics happen to seem quite smart and can defend their positions very passionately.

Round 1.

This is sort of funny!

@ Dan Schawbel:

“I do typos and am fine with it. I think people should be satisfied that we are taking the time out of our schedule to provide them with meaningful information and resources.”

And we are taking time out of our schedule to read what you provide and comment on it. The least a blogger can do is ensure that the product they are providing is of high quality. After all, there are advertisements on many blogs, and bloggers are making money off of the time and effort that readers put into their blog.

Is it too much to ask for the blogger to use some high-school level editing techniques before clicking the post button? It only takes maybe 120 seconds to read a post back-to-front to catch spelling errors.

Am I a perfectionist? Hell no, I make errors on my blog. But I try hard not to, and I am apologetic about it, not shameless.

Since in this case, Penelope is a professional writer, she should consider the services of an editor to simply be part of the cost of doing business.

Did I detect a slight shift of focus away from the typo-er to the typo-complainer? I agree that complaining about other peoples typos is “outdated” (without actually agreeing that it was ever “in”). I don’t agree that striving to eliminate them, particularly in public or professional writing, is outdated.

I can overlook typos, but not advice from a career blogger who says they don’t matter.

Actually, even funnier is the title of the previous post on this blog, as it is exceedingly relevant:

“Start-up skill: Find people who compensate for your weakness”

Says it all, if you ask me. Hire an editor, or be prepared for those who use your service to comment on its quality.

You’re turning this into a network of blogs, right? Once you have an economy of scale working in your favor, wouldn’t it make sense to hire a proofreader?

As far as ideas over hyphens; in theory, I agree with you. In practice, I think this article:
http://alistapart.com/articles/designisinthedetails
is a little more on the nose. Yes, the idea is the most important thing. Unfortunately, people do fixate on little details, and you aren’t going to change the human nature of your readers with an impassioned plea to ignore the little problems.

Andrew Jackson used to opine that he had no use for a person that could spell a word only one way.

Typos are distracting. I am making my way through a post when I trip. If I am enjoying myself—i.e. if the post is otherwise well crafted and the errors are rare—it won’t be a big deal.

If, though, there are typos upon typos (or if the writing is just plain crappy), I *will* make a judgement about the poster’s intellegence and attention to detail.

Amanda

I agree completely that it is a wonderful thing that we are moving away from (form?) some of the stuffiness that used to surround the craft toward more experimental and improvisational writing.

That being said, there is nothing wrong with sounding sophisticated and using proper spelling and grammar to complement (and compliment?) our earth-shattering ideas. That’s a common courtesy we should be extending to our readers. If they take the time to read our ideas, we ought to respect them enough to take a few moments (that’s all it takes!) after we have composed our frenzied posts to re-read them and make sure they are legible.

Penelope,

I don’t disagree with what you’re saying.

However, there are a number of blogs I read where the lack of any attention whatsoever to spelling and grammar is so distracting to the reader that it dramatically decreases the value of the otherwise interesting ideas.

Certainly spending a lot of time complaining about individual typos in other people’s writing isn’t a great use of anyone’s time. That being said, plenty of bloggers could do themselves a great favor by taking a few minutes before hitting the “Post” button to review and clean up their work (and maybe read a few Style Manuals when they have a chance).

Good points here, Penelope. I know of a blogger who’s terrible at the their/they’re/there distinction, but his ideas are great and that’s why I read him. He doesn’t apologize for his mistakes in grammar, either. He calls it ‘no look’ blogging, like a no look pass in basketball. He writes the ideas in a clear, thought-provoking manner and then clicks publish. That’s it.

The era of the editor is fading away. I used to retain a full-time Harvard grad for polishing my analyst work; Maggie always improved my clarity and style. Did I use the semi correctly?

But, in this new era of self edited content, we have to concede Pirsig’s position from Zen and the Art, “Grammar is itsy bitsy rules for itsy bitsy people.”

I used to pay Maggie about 25 per page which totaled around 1500 a month -can’t afford that anymore. Sometimes I will have her or someone like her polish a high touch piece.

Also, industry writing for the tech sector that is composed strictly to Strunk and White standards comes out sounding and looking like it is from another planet.

Writing is the vehicle that conveys your ideas on the blog. The better the writing the better the delivery of the ideas. Poor spelling, poor grammar and poor choice of words can make the reader question not only the ideas, but the person generating them. Simply having a colleague proofread your post could eliminate many errors.

Okay, its funny that this is your topic today because I was just getting ready to write a post myself about how important it is to make sure you don’t have typos in your resume and cover letter, because I got a cover letter this morning from a 20-year marketing executive with so many mistakes it’s ridiculous. Yes, blogs are different, they are more stream of consciousness, but still a professional example of your writing and you need to be careful. But in resumes, NO. The old rules still apply. As a recruiter, I consider myself to be the last line of defense between a writer and an employer, so I don’t mind as much if I find the typos, but if I send a resume to an employer with typos in it, then I look like an idiot. It does still matter.

* * * * * *

I actually think that a few typos in a resume are fine. It’s too hard to not have typos if you’re customizing your resume to every job. And, it takes such insanely careful proofreading to catch typos in your own resume, that maybe an error-free resume is a sign that someone is an obsessive-compulsive and not a good hire. Just a thought.

-Penelope

Come on people, lets get some perceptive here. These are blogs, and as much as we want to think our blogs are a huge deal, in the end they are online journals. Often people sit down and take a couple hours, if that, to write a post. They go content first, if we have some extra time, maybe some more attention to grammar and whatnot. If you are so easily distracted by errors maybe you should stick to the classic BOOK. There are plenty out there, and for the most part, error free.

I think I slightly disagree with what you said. I write on a blog, and I *do* care about typos.

At the same time I know that typos happen. So what to do? Personally, I apply to yard sticks.

#1 Keep it polite.
If I find a spelling mistake in an article that really truly bothers me, I let the author know via e-mail. There’s no point in having a spelling or grammar discussion in the comments section.

#2 Keep it proportional.
The occasional mistake happens. E.g. your article above probably contains one or two spelling mistakes. That’s not a problem at all, because it’s still readable. I wouldn’t even bother sending an e-mail if I found one - the article is well-written, and perfectly readable.

On the flip side, there are plenty of articles on the Internet that read more like the result of a cat vomiting on the keyboard. Not to mention plenty of places that don’t bother with capitalization, punctuation, and paragraphs. These are insults to the reader - they make it harder to actually get to the content. I’d recommend simply ignoring those sites, though. If a writer doesn’t care, no amount of complaining will fix that.

Which leaves only the occasional glaring misspelling as a candidate for an e-mail. If I think it would reflect badly on the author *and* I care about the author, I’ll actually write one.

On the other hand, seeing as I write about half an article in a simple comment, I just don’t have time for a lot of that ;)

You had a typo!

I can sign the preposition song in my sleep.

I think you meant ’sing’- jk

Otherwise I agree with what you say.

I don’t complain when a blogger has a typo here or there.

I do complain when my local newspaper (or the New York Times) has a typo. Especially when it’s in the headline. . . .

I use to get annoyed with spelling errors and typos until I started making them on my own blog. So people who are obsessed with spelling should start a blog and write in it at least four times a week. You will start getting over it.

And I completely agree that perfectionism is a disease. The other thing I think is very bad about perfectionism is it has a horrible impact on the person’s self-esteem. Whenever I meet people who are obsessed with their grades or anything else in their lives I think about how depressed the person must be.

Focusing on ideas is important. However we must write well enough (technically) so our typos aren’t a distraction to others. WE can’t throw up some gibberish and claim our ideas are good.

Goes back to your “strategy v. tactics” post a couple months ago.

All excuses to institutionalize mediocrity.

If you can’t take five minutes to look over your writing, or CARE enough to take five minutes to look over your writing, what does that really say about the writer?

I’ll tell you what it says - “good enough”.

Bring this attitude to the workplace and we are all in a lot of trouble. If the blog world is your workplace, even more trouble.

I would argue that a person who can justify tooth-whitening as a method to manage appearances even though she doesn’t think it’s personally important should consider typos in a similar light. They are the yellow on the smile of a blog.

Now, having yellow teeth may be a natural part of being human (as a coffee-drinker, I sure do understand that). But, P says that yellow teeth are something which are noticed by a significant and potentially influential portion of the audience, and as such encourages her audience to actively manage this part of one’s image. As a cost of doing business.

Now for my stuffy rant:
Spelling and grammar are like anything else…a discipline which in the practicing, can provide structure for growth of awareness, and ideas too. You don’t have to like iambic pentameter or punctuation rules, but just writing unpunctuated free verse isn’t going to make you e.e. cummings.

I care about typos…but on my blog. I try not to make them at all but they slip through. I never rely on spell-check because I make up words - kidding!

I stopped being a d*ck about spellings by others after I’d made the mother of all spelling errors. I’d sent out an email to a bunch of people about checking my copy for spelling…and I’d misspelled ‘misspell’!

So, usually in this blogging kingdom around here what Trunk says goes, which is kind of sad. Typos are not *okay*, they’re mistakes, which is usually okay.

I didn’t like the way she began in saying “There is a new economy for writing. The focus has shifted toward taking risks with conversation and ideas, and away from hierarchical input (the editorial process) and perfection.” Because that is acceptance of plain laziness. That’s like saying in 5 years it’ll be okay if everyone uses email like “txt msgng”. Already the next generation coming out of school now is crap enough at writing, so please let us not say that typos should start to be the norm.

That’s not to say I am a spelling basher. I’m not at all. I was going to ignore P’s typo in writing sign not sing (but she may have done that to induce commenting). But because P is always the first step forward (and lets admit, she is) I don’t think it is fair to those who take particular care that suddenly it’s okay when there’s less editing. Mistakes are still distracting.

Apologies for any mistakes in this comment. Lay off it!

* * * * * *
This is why I disagree with the idea that lazy is an issue here. Lazy would require a decrease in energy. But I am talking about a shift in energy — away from things that used to matter (perfection) to things that use to not matter (the opinions and rants of the writer overriding objectivity). It takes just as much energy to form and convey opinions than it does to have perfect presentation.

-Penelope

Penelope -
I agree with you…You spend time putting together an interesting, creative take on something for people to read, and instead they pick it apart because it says “sign” instead of “sing.” (Although I was thinking that maybe you are signing the song…Not impossible!)

For my part, I’d rather see more GOOD blogs than more PERFECT blogs. I learned from my first boss:
“The perfect is the enemy of the good.” In my mind, this mantra applies to most topics, although NOT resumes and not anything that I write for my clients!

Blogs, however, are just that - blogs. Bloggers are not performing brain surgery. An error in a blog is not going to have dire consequences for the reader. Bloggers (even with a large readership) should NOT need to hire editors.

I like your style and creative license with certain grammatical techniques. It makes the blog more conversational, direct and interesting to read.

The fact is, success can breed contempt. When you are good at something, a lot of people want to knock you down a peg or two…To me, this is more about them than it is about you.

For when every word does count, I blogged on error-free resumes, and included a tip for using Word’s spell check to help catch certain easy to mistake words - think manger/manager:

http://keppiecareers.wordpress.com/2007/12/26/error-free-resumes/

Blog on!
Miriam Salpeter

I can live with the typos; I’ll call it even if you never mention your foot fungus or anal sex again. Deal?

“And there is research to show that if the first and last letter of a word are correct then our brain adjusts for all the letters in between.”

Actually, the research shows that the effect of internal mixing is highly variable (some jumbled sentences are all but unreadable), and that even with “easy” jumbled sentences, reading speed and comprehension are reduced.

Besides, typos can easily screw up the first or last letter of a word. Even if internal mixing caused no impediment, that wouldn’t be an argument in favour of typos, because typos aren’t restricted to internal letters.

“So people who have spelling problems might be super intelligent with great social skills—if you’d just take the time to notice.”
For the most part, dyslexics–people with reduced reading/spelling ability but with otherwise normal intelligence–can be taught to read in the same way that people with reduced reading/spelling ability and somewhat subnormal performance. Remedial classes that are effective at teaching the stupid kids to read and write also work well with the dyslexics. Dyslexia is not a good excuse for being unable to read and write.

“You don’t have unlimited time, so spend it on ideas, not hyphens.”
The premise that writing something that is both reasonably grammatical and properly spelled should take appreciably longer than writing something that is neither is a flawed one. It does not. If your ideas are worth disseminating, they’re worth disseminating in a form that is clear and accurate; proper spelling and grammar improve both clarity and accuracy.

“Perfectionism is a disease.”
Armchair diagnoses of diseases are a scourge.

Imperfection makes doctors prescribe the wrong drugs, it makes cars drive into each other, it makes planes fall out of the sky, it makes software crash. There is nothing wrong with aspiring to do things correctly.

“Use the comments section for what matters: Intelligent discourse.”
Effective discourse requires clear communication, and poor spelling and grammar detract from that.

Go back to Chaucerian Middle English, and spelling was inconsistent as a matter of course.

I found this to illustrate: http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ozideas/spfree17c.htm

The best modern writers play with grammar and spelling, they don’t let it shackle them. And they get things wrong too - because they know the important thing is to just get on with it….

As you say, it’s *meaning* that matters. I stand with you on this to the bitter end.

…..

Having said all that, txt-spk will triumph over English over my smouldering corpse.

I disagree big time. I think people can make too big of a deal out of typos, for sure, but I’d never say typos are no big deal. It’s a sign that someone is either not educated or doesn’t care enough about the audience to give a typo-free article. Professionals don’t have typos; amateurs do. There’s a big difference between memorizing the AP Stylebook and making sure that the words you write are spelled correctly and things are punctuated in a way that makes sense. Besides, don’t you think that IM and text messaging are eroding our language enough? Should we just lower all our standards?

Also, while I’m on my soapbox ;), I also think that even “on topic” blog comments - the “discussion” - can be meaningless. Some are just for pure self-promotion - “I’ll just write some fluff, and provide a link back to my own blog.” Others are just arguing for the sake of arguing. I guess what I’m getting at is that ideally, whether we’re talking typos or “discussion,” the comments should be of some value.

@Kenneth: ditto!

@JenFlex: Great point. If you care enough to whiten your teeth, shouldn’t you care enough about editing?

On another note, why in the world do people have to get all uppity about grammar/spelling mistakes? There is no reason to be less than civil to other people. Just because you’re hiding behind a computer screen and miles of cables, that does not mean that you can be rude and degrading to another human being for a grammar/spelling mistake. Grow up.

“An editor is really different than a proofreader. I have an editor, and I send a draft of just about every post to him before I publish. The editor is not there to check spelling (although invariably, he does)”

That’s semantics and not answering the point. Editor, proofreader, copy editor, you can call them what you like and indeed we call ourselves any of those throughout many fields. The point was that someone who checks your spelling and grammar is a worthwhile investment.

Typos are inevitable in most blogs because the very nature of blogging is very ephemeral and of the moment. If you want to post about something as it’s happening, there will be a few typos. I do think those typos, however, should be minor if you’re a clear communicator. Good writers have a sense of how things should flow and a sense of proper grammar, even if there are still typos. I don’t mind typos but I won’t read blogs where someone cannot clearly express a point. Those are two different things, though.

I’m a writer and an editor. I’m a writer first. I can write as fast as I think and it comes very easy to me. The only thing in my life that does, actually. Editing is new to me and it’s my day job. I’ve found that, in the grand scheme of things, I just don’t care about when I need to use an en dash as opposed to an em dash. But now I know the difference and that’s great. By editing other people’s work and working with editors who know so much more than me, my writing has improved. Editors do such important work. I now realize that all of the writers I love are not lone geniuses but have really brilliant editors. When I write something for work and get it back from my editor, it’s always so much better than what I could do alone and I love that.

Lazy is not the point, I shouldn’t have brought up lazy because it distracted you. The point is that typos are still mitsakes. I fancy myself a freestyle writer, I sacrifice some grammar for the point of fun, sometimes. But the purposeful is the point, not the un-caring of quality.

I think this is another area greatly affected by the generational view. Good grammar will matter to boomers, somewhat to Xers, and less so for Yers. So as in many other areas of writing, the rule is “know your audience.”

In a similar veign, switch modes of work based on the media in which you are working. Concentrate on the big picture/ideas over perfection in blogs, but take care of the details in presentations, proposals, and especially resumes.

If your gramatical error annoys a grammar nazi in your blog, it won’t hurt you much. But if the HR specialist filtering your resume is a grammarian contrarian, it could hurt your prospects.

I often wonder at the amount of wasted energy expended by people who seem to *want* to be annoyed, waiting for the slightest trigger to set them off. Grammar is one of those triggers. My message to them is to get over it … or find that their peers and competitors are running circles around them.

Sarah,

Penelope’s right. Editors are different than copyeditors or proofreaders. (And copyeditors and proofreaders are also different from each other.) In general, the main focus of an editor is content, whereas that of a copyeditor is that of consistency… and a proofreader’s focus is typos, typesetting, etc.

I’m in that field, so of course I think all that work is highly important. (*cough*) However, what many people who point out “grammar” mistakes fail to realize is that they’re usually pointing out a style issue, not necessarily a hard and fast grammar rule. AP isn’t the only style guide. There’s Chicago, MLA, APA, and quite a few others.

Because, as of the moment, I’ve really yet to see someone accuse another poster on a board: “That was a misplaced modifier. You are a MORON.”

As a former spelling bee contestant and third-place winner circa 1983 (I misspelled “anthropology”), I have to speak up as someone who thinks spelling and grammar does matter. Typos are just plain distracting. Can I admit that when I send a text message I even spell out whole words? It’s a giant pet peeve of mine to write “R U” for “Are you” etc.

When I see typos, I don’t think the writer is unintelligent, I just think the writer wasn’t that careful. And of course I make typos too sometimes when I’m moving too quickly or doing too many things at once. Also, I do not have Asperger’s syndrome, I’m not a perfectionist, nor did my intellectual skills develop at the expense of my social skills.

It seems like everyone is looking at this as black or white, when really it’s gray. I regularly read blogs for many different, and I find some that are full of mistakes, and others that are near mistake free (like this one). With too many mistakes, the post does lose credibility; to me that shows a lack of attention to detail. I think the point is this - no one can always be perfect and typo-free. No one wants typos, but they happen. So long as the post isn’t riddled with errors, just think to your “oh, that shouldn’ve been from instead of form” and move on.

PS: As someone in their mid 20s, I take great exception to anyone labeling my generation as lazy or making generalizations about poor skills (e.g. writing). Don’t generalize an entire population - it will invariably be wrong.

As a newbie to blogging, I tend to disagree with you. Myself and a friend (who is also a blogger and has been blogging for several years now) were actually having a conversation about typos last night and we both felt that if someone let us know that there was a typo in our blog we’d be thankful. Your blog is about work and life and how we relate the two, right? Then why can we not be perfectionists in our blogs, do our typos not represent how we do business as well as our personal lives? Should we not as humans be always striving for perfection, surely this is what we should be telling our kids…

P.:

I’ve been reading your blog with interest for some time now, but this post — which at its root is an excuse for mispelled words — is nonsense.

How can you write about career development and professionalism without making correct spelling, not to mention grammar and style, a priority of some sort?

I am senior writer for a regional daily newspaper; everyday typos, no matter how much attention one pays, get through to print. No one and no organization is perfect, obviously, but a little effort toward polished work never hurt. It especially never hurt those who bill themselves as professional writers.

I’m with you on numerous issues, but on this one, you’re off base. More annoying than those who point out the typos of others are those who dismiss proper spelling as unimportant. More over, the value of spelling shouldn’t vary upon the medium; whether one is writing for a blog or a print publication, proper spelling is proper spelling.

I’ve read your posts on multi-tasking and know where you stand on the subject. Still, an editor who doesn’t proofread? Come on.

And FYI: You don’t have to memorize the AP Stylebook, but you can reference it, and the dictionary, every once in a while.

I think it’s definitely worthwhile to parse this issue generationally…it is rather piquant that this self-professed gen-x’er is expressing impatience with getting hung up on typos. That said, I used to be very tight with my grip on typos, grammar, etc., but have since realized there is a margin of error that is best accepted.

What people seem to fear is not that an article is 95% grammatical and correct, but an article that is 92%, 85%, 75%…then the beauty of words can be really lost. I think you earn more valor points for working within the rules with the realization that it’s that much more challenging.

Now that the majority of my reading is done online, I do notice that my “gut grammar” skills are slipping…I can never remember when to use single or double quotes! So I understand why people wring their hands, while also understanding that the wringing doesn’t amount to much when we live in a world where information comes at a constant gush (for example, in two days, most of these comments will be pretty much obsolete for all intents and purposes). Some people want to put themselves in front of that fire hose and insist that it slow down for the sake of protocol—good luck to ‘em.

All this said, is the de-emphasis on rules maybe why blogs will never be considered ‘literature’ in the traditional sense? (There’s them quotes again!)

As a blogger, you are producing writing to communicate ideas to people. Your reputation is based not only on the ideas you have, but your facility in communicating them.

If all the vowels were removed from this sentence, you could still understand it. Does that mean it isn’t important to put vowels in your words?

I regularly read your posts. If they were illiterate, I would stop. Why? Because the polish in your writing is an indicator of how much care has gone into it. And I have no interest in the unconsidered opinion of a stranger.

Werd! ;-)

Are you aware sometimes typos are intentional to help identify if people are copying your work or ideas without acknowledgment? You are really on a roll with your last two posts. The never know what’s going to be in the next paragraph Penelope. Glad to have you back. Must be breathing deeper and more relaxed. Do you keep any thoughts private?

Yes, attention to detail is so yesterday.
I guess, too, caring about your product–whatever that is–is a bit passe as well.

My wife teaches first grade and told me recently of a parent who was totally bonkers because their child missed some spelling words.

We were talking about it over dinner and my wife explained how, from an educator’s standpoint, spelling is relatively low on the priorities.

Of course we should all put out as well-crafted posts as we can, but the occasional typo is just not that big a deal.

Good heavens!

Paul Orfalea the founder of Kinkos had Dyslexia and most ADDers have it.

My grandfather (may he rest in peace) always said, “If someone comes into your house and bends over far enough to scrutinize the trim, kick em in the ass while they’re bending over”. This statement really holds true for a lot of things. I often find that when people criticize the work of others they are trying to make themselves feel better about their work; but in turn, could not do any better under the same circumstances.

I think a half of the premise of your post is right and the other half is wrong. I believe anyone who writes anything ought to strive for the absence of spelling and grammar mistakes; however, unless you are their boss, if you correct someone’s spelling or grammar, you look like a petty asshole.

Your timing on this post could not have been better. While I should have been excited that your team thought my latest post was interesting enough to be on the home page of Brazen Careerist and that I had 5 comments in my inbox this morning as a result of that post, instead I was kicking myself over a typo I didn’t catch before I posted it on my blog.

I re-read everything twice before I post it, but there’s an occasional word jumble or punctuation mark that evades me. One that I usually catch immediately after posting my thoughts, which is of course too late for the RSS feed. And then it winds up posted on your site with a typo.

I’m clearly dwelling on the wrong details of the experience.

What a long and pompous praising of the trivial ignorance.
If a person wasn’t capable to study hard enough to learn language sufficiently, why should anyone consider his knowledge and opinion on other questions valuable and mature enough? Correct spelling makes a good pre-screening; if you are considering whether you should invest time into reading something long, overlook it for errors - if you spot spelling errors immediately, just spend your time elsewhere. Good that you write correctly yourself, otherwise I’d just ignore the whole post as a nonsense.
If a person doesn’t care that his broken spelling makes his posts harder to read, this means that he doesn’t care of the readers’ comfort. Why should a reader bother bursting through the broken ciphers then? It will be a lack of self-respect to read something what is not intended for you.
And by the way, don’t you know that the ideas worth NOTHING? Their realization is what worths. Everyone has a lot of great ideas; only ones who do the boring part of putting them to life gain millions. And for just sharing an idea, the idea realization is its text. Having it incorrect means having it realized poorly.
Stop making excuses with the politically correct “dyslexia” and “ADD” bullshit - most people are not dyslexic or ADDed, they are just ignorant, and should just learn harder rather than be considered medically doomed. Dyslexia is heavily farfetched to quieten the parents about their child lazyness.

Finally: don’t be such a troll posting such controversial stuff in the hope of temporary traffic increase, it won’t increase the regular readers base. Trolling is outdated. And don’t feed the ignorants either - favouring the ignorance weakens the mankind.

And a little metaphor for the final: correctly written text is like a good cooked dish - it is more easy and effective to consume. Mistakes in writing and cooking just distract you from the chief task of reading and eating. Being a gourmet, you just cannot accept the fast food, even if it also provides nutrients; your self-respect just won’t let you inefficiently waste your time on undereating. And thank new haven, in 21st century there is always a lot of other food to choose from.

What Kenneth said. ;)

But Michael…

Your comment is full of mistakes, sir. Sounds like you had a lot to communicate and thought you could allocate time/energy away from proofreading.

When all is said and done, we are judged based upon our ideas. Distractions like typos matter only in the greater context of the audience as in,”Will this audience be so distracted by typos that the gist of my message will be lost or that I will lose credibility.

In a forum of english teachers, one situation applies, among engineering students, another takes precedence.
It all depends on context.

Sorry Andrea; I have to admit that the time I spent to learn English wast just a tiny fraction of the time I spent to learn my native language. I am really sorry if the mistakes in my comment made it hard for you to read; but still hating the ignorance and ignorance connivance nevertheless, I really appreciate if you show me the mistakes in my comment.

@FY If you pop over to the website my name links to, you’ll notice that I’m in that field too, and have been for almost a decade. I’m in the journal and science side, rather than the book publishing side, and both I and everyone I have ever worked with in that capacity has always been an ‘editor’. And the point remains, P. was indulging in semantics to sidestep the point.

@ Joselle: As another writer first and editor second, I couldn’t agree more. Every part of your life and experience contributes to your writing ability.

I would agree with P. if the post were “typos happen; fix and move on,” or even if it was just a call for civility in commenting on this topic. What I can’t buy into is the notion that typos are beneath notice, or that people who notice them are somehow fools.

Things **matter**. Isn’t that the point of being any kind of blogger or writer?

I agree with every single thing you said.

Perfectionism is a disease. I have it. It’s nasty sometimes, but it helps with the grades. Poor consolation I know.

Spell-checker still has a place, and that place is in academic writing, or anything that is published on paper. You still need to have proof reading because things can get really out of hand if you don’t. For instance, a cell phone carrier prints brochures for their stores and then after they’re all printed and shipped send a follow-up note that says, oops, we put the wrong price on one of the features there, you’ll have to ignore it.

In online writing, there’s not time for perfection. I hate to say it, but it’s true. I know my writing is never perfect. Some of us are still going to notice typo’s though. It’s a fact of life which some of us can’t escape.

I’ll skip any commenting on spelling and grammar and go straight to the last paragraph. I totally agree with your statement - “And while old journalism was hell-bent on being Right and being The Authority, new journalism understands that news is a commodity and opinion-makers are the layer that goes on top of the news to make it resonate.” I used to get the local newspaper delivered seven days a week until the end of last year. The local newspaper news coverage is more comprehensive and complete than the local TV news or any online site. However the newspaper or TV medium is a news source and does not serve in a direct way as a dialogue for the members of the community. There are some exceptions (e.g. - letters to the editor and a telephone call to a guest on TV) but nothing that comes close to publishing on the Internet and blogs in particular. I complain or make a comment while reading the newspaper or watching TV and get no feedback. I do the same thing in a blog comment section and who knows - someone may be actually reading my comment and comment back!

I have the same attitude in general, but I would observe that you never know what typos are going to get in the way of your ideas. It can be arrogant to assume that people should have understood what you ‘really’ meant. When I start to get slopy, it’s a slippery slope to arrogance which becomes boring to readers. I’m walking and typing on a phone now, so excuse ny typos.

Haullayluyuh!

I think P’s point was that we not COMMENT on typos.

Unless of course, she is paying you to be her personal spell checker.

Can you really “sign the preposition song in my sleep”? Or is that a typo? lol

I must admit I take people VERY LITERALLY, and am amazed at how frequently a couple of transposed characters in a word can totally change the meaning of a thought entirely.

Did I see someone say that typos in a resume are okay? You have got to be kidding me. If you don’t care about your resume, you don’t deserve the job. I am a copyeditor and proofreader, and I believe good grammar is always important. Read copyblogger.com. If blogging is your job, approach it professionally. I wouldn’t point out errors on someone’s blog unless it’s factually incorrect or really distracting from the message, but if you really don’t care to even try, I don’t really care to read your blog.

Hey, I was a good speller in elementary school. Does that mean I’ve got a disease? It would explain some things, certainly.

Okay. I got about two screens down and came across the following:

“If, though, there are typos upon typos (or if the writing is just plain crappy), I *will* make a judgement about the poster’s intellegence and attention to detail.”

That was the second time I had seen the word ‘judgment’ misspelled, and I don’t know what I’m supposed to think about the commenter’s intelligence. (Not ‘intellegence’.)

At this point I haven’t read the rest of the comments, so forgive me if you guys have covered this. But here’s where I think I stand:

I can live with a few typos here and there — that means you’re tired, you’re thinking too fast or your fingers just slipped. I’m a multiple offender myself, reformed only by those squiggly red lines that, blessedly, have now worked their way into the last two versions of Adobe InDesign.

I think misspellings are different, and I think spell-check often knows the difference. I know there are a lot of fine writers who can’t spell worth a damn, so I’m working on not flinching when I come across a doozy (’artical’ instead of ‘article’).

But I do think the dictionary is a little like the AP Style Book — I’ll grant Penelope that a writer doesn’t need to have the thing memorized. But it sure would be nice for us readers to know you’ve cracked its covers once or twice.

People actually use SpellChecker? I prefer to keep a pocket dictionary in, well, my back pocket for those days I’m not sure of a word.

Typos are one thing; grammar is another.

I understand if you (and other bloggers) get frustrated when people point out typos. Accidents happen! Like you said, you’re dumping a stream of thoughts & ideas.

If a wrod (<–on purpose, but I don’t know why) is misspelled here and there, it’s because you’re trying to convey the message vs. offer a grammatical lesson. Brainstorming is not a thinking exercise, it’s just a brain dump.

In general, I can deal with a few typos.

What I can’t handle are significant grammatical errors:

there/their/they’re, apostrophe placements (is’nt), your/you’re, ownership issues (it’s, its), etc…

Those errors make me question a person’s intellect. Typos interrupt the flow; egregious grammar is the killer.

If people dislike typos and judge you on them, wouldn’t it be wise to minimize it? It’s as if you wore a bikini to a job interview and said, “I can’t believe these idiots think my bikini is unprofessional! Get with it, you idiots!” If you want to appear professional to the public, you do what the public thinks is professional. For myself, if people can’t even get their spelling or punctuation right, I wonder what other more important details they might be lax about.

Two points:

1. I’ll often send e-mail to bloggers when I notice typos, and most are grateful and correct them immediately. I in turn appreciate it when someone points out one of mine out to me. Hopefully I don’t make too many. I think using comments to complain about typos is somewhat tacky.

2. This discussion, especially the part about resumes, reminds me of a post from Seth Godin just today:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/04/little-scraps.html

I’m tired and I’ll probably make a lot of errors right now, but I’ll try anyway.

I think it depends on what type of blog you have. I am in a profession where correct spelling matters. My blog is about my profession, so I think I need to pay attention to that or my readers will not take me seriously.

I blog every day as well and it takes a lot of time and effort, but I do read my post over a few times to make sure there are no spelling errors.

I do agree with you that the comment section is not the place for a discussion on typos (except of course in this case because that was your topic). If I did have typos in my post I would not be offended if someone pointed that out in a private e-mail and not on a public comment board.

I think your point was that it “shouldn’t” matter, but I think it really does. Especially in a blog when the written word is all we are using to communicate with.

Maybe it’s my generation, but spelling does matter to me. Can’t help it.

Patricia

I loved your post. I think people are missing the point here. You’re not saying that one should not proofread or care about making mistakes, but if one is missed by chance in a “blog”, which can happen to anyone, a reader shouldn’t get anal and point it out as if you committed the holiest of errors. How many of your readers write a blog? Do they realize the how hard it is to come up with ideas day in and day out and then the time which is involved to write it? How you have children to take care of, how you are going through a divorce, how you are trying to start a business venture? Who has time to knit pick and worry over an accidentally misspelled word, on a blog no less?

I don’t understand some of your readers. They put you down because you mention foot fungus, for discussing your divorce, for saying a typo now and then shouldn’t be a big deal, etc. Yet they somehow keep coming back to read your posts. Which proves your point that content is what is most important. We should always strive to do the best job possible, I don’t think you are disagreeing with that, but nobody is perfect. And when writing a blog ceases to be fun because so many people want to pick it to death, what blogger will want to deal with that negativity anymore?

If someone was rude to you, Penelope, then that’s wrong. But why criticize someone trying to help you?

I deeply appreciate well written English, be it in books, newspapers, or blogs. Saying that the presence of errors in the latter should no longer be important doesn’t sit well with me. And what example does it give to students, many of whom can barely construct a sentence at at the best of times?

I’m loving this entry. I’m a blogger and of course, typos slip through the cracks all the time. when you’re writing 10 hours a day, you start to get over your perfectionism (ok not completely). When I’m writing for magazines and newspapers typos are no big deal - but when I’m working for online mags or blogs - they rarely put my writing through fact check and copy editors so I’m way more conscious of my shortcomings (not that that stops them from leaking out anyway) What helped me let go of if somewhat - was years ago I dated a guy who was a much more successful writer than myself. He and his friends were sort of THE big deals in the business then (and still are really). I told him that I was a sh*#ty speller and that my comma usage was tragic. He told me that none of the good writers he knew, including himself, could spell. For whatever reason that made a huge difference to me. He’s since won an Academy award and an Emmy for best writing, and I doubt he stays up at night worrying about typos.
Thanks for another great post.

ps: When it comes to resumes and cover letters - I do believe that typos of any kind are unacceptable. There’s so much competition that when I have been doing the hiring, my first pass has always been to toss anything with errors. Then I go back through the very few that are left and start looking at qualifications…

Penelope,

You are doing a real disservice if you are telling young people entering the job market not to worry about spelling mistakes on a cover letter or resume. When we hire I usually get 15 resumes a day & will eliminate any that don’t take time to check their spelling. I know for a fact I am not the only one who can’t stand it when someone misspells my name (Neal or Niel instead of Neil) & it is little things like this that may short circuit a career. Like it or not you do not look intelligent when you make spelling or grammar mistakes which reduces your credibility.

You made some good points in this post about perfectionists, dislexia and the fact that some of the people with the best personal/sales skills can’t spell worth a lick (my wife if one of these) I know some of the best salespeople in our company that spell worse than that guy from Flowers for Algernon but perception is reality & it is imporant to look intelligent in your writing.

Great post. I think nit picking on typos on this type of thing gives some people a sense of superiority. They’re not confident enough to take the risk and go out and blog something, and face the potential criticism of people. Instead they’ll just sit on the sidelines and try to pick on others that do it. It’s kinda like the guys who make fun of a friend for trying out for a spot on the football team. At least he had the courage to take the risk of failure, and he’ll be a lot better for it than all the people on the side snickering.

In regard to the comment about “a few typos on a resume being OK”, I think it may depend on the job. In some jobs, being obsessive-compulsive about details is a plus. For example, if I was looking at a resume for someone applying for a position to design machinery, I want someone who cares deeply about every little detail. Those details can make the difference between a good, safe, functioning piece of machinery and an expensive fiasco. Even small errors can result in expensive rework and delays. I’ve checked over the work of people who didn’t think details were critical - “fiasco” is a kind word for it. I ended up working several 16-hour days to get things “more or less” fixed - I say “more or less” because some of the fixes were done in less than ideal ways, but were the shortest route from disaster to acceptable results.

So I guess the best way to summarize my point is that if someone is going for a job where they know details are critical, they should proofread and proofread and have a friend proofread so that they can demonstrate that they can get details right. If the job is not one where details are so critical, then they need to consider how much time to spend on checking materials. A little bit, to make sure there are no egregious errors, is a big plus; a large amount, in quest of a minor grammatical mistake that most people would never notice, may not be a productive use of time.

I always make grammatical mistakes while blogging…. sometimes I notice them while reading my post after I publish it (which I always do), and I go back in and edit and fix them.

However, where I tend not to go back and fix errors is mainly in comments I leave on other people’s blogs…. because there’s usually not an ‘edit’ button, so you just have to live with small errors - essentially y’all will know what I’m saying anyway.

The other thing is… unless you have somebody else proof read your stuff, you can’t catch all the grammatical errors yourself, because like you said - there’s research that shows that you can “there is research to show that if the first and last letter of a word are correct then our brain adjusts for all the letters in between.” That’s true and it’s especially true of your own work, when you go back and read what you just wrote, you read what you know in your head you wrote, rather than what’s actually there - so you may not catch from/form or sign/sing, etc. But somebody else coming in and reading your post for it is probably will. As blogger’s we don’t have time to get somebody to proofread, we’re spilling out our ideas right now. So, typos and little errors will happen, its commonplace, but that’s perfectly fine.

It is fine to be sloppy if you are more of an idea rat (can’t find the cartoon right now, alas) but in execution attention to detail is key…

Perfectionism is not only a disease, it is a misnomer. Perfectionist are not looking for perfection, they are looking for flaws. Imperfectionism is a more apt term, but perfectionists wouldn’t like that, now would they?