How do you feel about typos?
I hate ‘em.
The few times I’ve discovered mistakes in my blog posts (or worse, when you’ve discovered a typo and called me on it) I die the death by a thousand cuts. Humiliating and eternally painful, typos are the shorthand indications of sloppiness, carelessness, tardiness or all of the above.
Yet, awful as they are, there are times when typos are useful. For example, we get lots of résumés in our office and when the agency is crazy busy it’s difficult to find the time to wade through them all. Typos are a great way of thinning the herd. After all, if a potential employee doesn’t care enough about their own work to check it for errors, what’s going to happen when they’re being paid to do work for our clients? If a prospect can’t bother to spell my name correctly in their cover letter then their résumé is going directly into the circular file under my desk.
Another time I find typos useful is when filtering out phishing emails. I don’t have a Bank of America account but I do get an awful lot of emails from BoA, or from someone pretending to be them. If I did do business with BoA, I might feel the need to open all those emails to check if they’re legit. But since almost every scam email I come across has a spelling or syntax error in it, typos serve as a very effective spam filter. My guess is that most of the professionals creating online promotions for BoA (or Chase, Citi, AmEx, etc.) are scrupulous about their text.
Typos are particularly useful when you’re buying something on eBay. Because lots of sellers aren’t careful with their typing, they often post products with misspelled titles. That means that people searching for those products won’t find the offers and the prices don’t get bid up. Believe it or not, there are websites where you can put in the names of the things you want to buy and the sites will search the goods with their commonly misspelled names. For illustration’s sake, I searched the word “basketball” on TypoBuddy.com and got back over 140 viable searches with words such as, “hasketball, baskegball, basketbalp, baxketball, basketbalol, baskeftball, baskretball, nbasketball, baskeytball, baskertball,” and “baskdetball.” How many aspiring hoopsters do you know who would search for a brand new baxketball?
When I teach marketing classes, I spend the first day talking about typos. Specifically I tell my students that I won’t accept assignments that misuse “their,” “there” or “they’re;” “to,” “two” or “too;” or “your” or “you’re.” I remind them that “imply” and “infer” don’t mean the same thing and neither do “ironic” and “coincidental.” Also, that the words “that” and “which” are not interchangeable.
Am I being too picky? Maybe so. After all, the point of the class is to teach the art of creative concepts, not grammatical correctness. But one of the most important parts of the creative process is the ability to sell great ideas and if you can’t convince people of the quality of your thoughts then it’s awfully difficult to excite them with the quality of your creative product.
Perhaps you think I’m being picayune. There are lots of blogs on the ‘net telling people to shut up about typos; calling us perfectionistas small minded, uncreative, and obsessive. One woman even wrote that writing without typos is totally outdated — and maybe she’s right. After all, anyone can make a mistake and miss a typo now and again.
But if the whole point of written communication is to build a relationship with regular readers and establish thought leadership, then the roadblocks that typos create get in the way of easy understanding. As I see it, presenting a document replete with typos is the grammatical equivalent of making a presentation with your zipper open.
Want more? Gually Mata, the eagle-eyed proofreader who keeps our work – and these blog posts – on the straight and narrow, sent me the following poem about computer spell-checkers titled, Don’t rely on it. Proof your writing.
“Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.
Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.”
Tags: Branding, Branding Speaker, eBay, Errors, typobuddy.com, Typos
Bruce -
Another most excellent blog post. I (like you) remember when spellcheckers on computers were user purchased add-in applications (around $75-100 ASP). Things were better then because there were less online “auto-correctors”.
The problem is not in having the digital assistance it’s in they way that we’ve configured the systems to help us. They just “correct” the mistake vs “help us learn/improve”.
Until system designers change the user methodology/benefit and thus the behavior, anybody who uses these systems (and it is everybody) will only get the crutch and not the improvement in word knowledge that leads to proper spelling (or grammar, etc). This (if you follow Don Norman the wonderful author/guru on design) is because the technologists are seeking (and have succeeded) to automate the process/task vs to design for fundamental assistance with longer term human improvement.
Someday maybe someone will link gaming behavior and benefits with spell check so that we can all earn some Facebook or Zynga points while the computer points out our consistent spelling or grammar mistakes – if we take additional time to LEARN the mistakes and practice to correct/avoid we’d change the behavior and earn something.
But likely not as it’s easier at this point and time for people just to send out crap without checking it (Millennial generation) and/or rely on the auto-correct because its the default mode (smartphones/tables w/auto-type/correct).
With my 20th year college reunion coming up I found in a box the typewritten application I sent to them in 1987. I remember writing out the essay portion on an IBM Selectric (absolutely wonderful machine). What struck me was the manually analyzed hyphenation breaks… Sometimes a little more forced effort results in a superior crafted product.
So semi-assisted spell check w/user consequences and real world benefits for behavior change is my recommendation. It gives users the corrective training that they obviously are lacking before they get to the keyboard.
David H Park
I have traveled farther to further my education, and along the way I’m now referred to as a grammar-meister snob, and I’m knot even that good at it. Best advice – have fresh eyes review your writing as it’s often forests for the trees syndrome, and in today’s moving-too-fast world it’s easy to make these errors.
One trick I learned – read your copy backward (no s on that word by the way). It will drive you crazy, but you surely catch misspelted words that way.
Bruce, you left out one reason that typos arrive. Rushing. And in my case, I type so fast (the legacy of years as a secretary – even though that was decades ago) that I overtype the keyboard! So too often, the first TWO letters of a work end up capitalized.
It’s my observation that people are less critical about typos in the blogosphere and social-media world; seems like people are OK with the stream-of-consciousness stuff.
Spell-checkers don’t help!
Great post–of course, as a copywriter and thus a professional Miss Grundy, I live and die by grammar and typography. My colleagues and I often engage in spirited debate about the number of angels dancing on some tiny point of punctuation, and then laugh at our obsessiveness. Still, we feel we’re fighting the good fight–even though other colleagues send us emails rife with errors followed by the disclaimer to please overlook said errors, as they were typed on a tiny keyboard.
Between PDAs and the sheer pressure to be communicating at every moment and compress ever-more information into overloaded brains (can you say Twitter?), standards are definitely slipping. I’ve even seen greater numbers of typos in the once-perfect New York Times, a horrifying development.
As for the specious seductions of spell check, I’ve always loved that poem. At a previous job, a too-hasty use of this tool by a fellow editor allowed a senior administrator’s name to be changed from Davidson to Division, an error not caught until after the piece was printed and thus engendering a $50,000 reprint. And I still treasure the memory of a newspaper article that referred to stock prices “hanging in libido”–which I have always charitably (though perhaps mistakenly) assumed was a case of spell check gone awry.
Of course, even the most eagle-eyed review will not render every document perfect. But it’s good to know that at least some of us continue to pursue that noble ideal.
Good topic Bruce.
One grammatical spelling mistake that drives me nuts is:
Using “your” when they should use “you’re”.
BTW, did Steve misspell misspelled on purpose? LOL
You’re welcome!
Nice post Bruce. I too find myself bothered by typos. However, I can’t help wonder if we are quickly becoming outdated. The new consumers, and members of the workforce – those growing up with a greater texting vocabulary that real one – are living in a world where speed and immediacy trump perfection and results trump process. If we hold true to the standards with which we were raised, we may quickly eliminate the majority of the new workforce…
Air travel used to be an elite experience – our parents wouldn’t dare get on an airplane without being dressed up. Most of us now rack that up to folly and prefer travel comfort and function over form. I wonder if grammar and spelling will go the way of the suit and tie for air travel.
As an aside, when I was in Business School I was one of very few who refused to send ‘Thank You’ letters after an interview. The way I viewed it, the ‘Thank You’ letter could only do me harm. If I had done my job in the interview, I was likely to get an offer regardless of whether I sent a letter or not. If I had blown the interview, no letter was going to get me that job. However, it was highly possible that a letter with a typo or other error could lose me an offer I had already earned. So I avoided the ‘Thank You’ letter at all costs!
As usual, another great post. However, you should take your own advice and verify the accuracy of your work as well as its spelling and grammar. The current version of Microsoft Word identifies eight errors in your poem.
Sorry for the additional paper cut!
Love your blogs, especially this one.
As a former Director of Business Development for several agencies, and a consultant in that specialty to many agencies, I pride myself on being error free. Your blog hit a home run for me.
One of my greatest frustrations is what a computer can do to alter your email response after it is sent by eliminating lines between paragraphs or running words together even though you you have double or tripled checked your response prior to sending it.
Great blog and I agree with every idea you posted. My feelings are very strong about how one spells and writes can have a significant bearing on the credibility of their thoughts. I do, however, take into consideration whether or not the person is writing in their primary language, their age (it goes to their grammar training level), and (if known) their grammar training level. Even though I take those into consideration, I am probably biased to those who use the English language correctly. (Still, i admire those who speak multiple languages. Another great post!
I’m willing to accept Twitter shortening of grammar and words.
But email replies and other social media posts should be punctuated properly and without misspellings.
It takes an extra 30 seconds or 1 minute, but I believe it’s worth the time. Like Bruce, I ‘delete’ those who don’t make the effort.
Bruce, your observations and comments are comical but true! As an entrepreneur, I always have an eye open for business opportunities. I subscribe to a number of on-line “businesses for sale” sites. One of them posted this: “Profussonl stor” – I immediately unsubscribed!
How ironic (surely not coincidental) that you would leave a typo in a blog bashing typos (“usperfectionistas”?)
Hurrah! Great post. It drives me crazy that kids don’t think spelling and punctuation is important these days. I totally agree with everything you said.
Outstanding, Bruce!!!
Nothing makes copy better than a short break before taking another look at it. Very often, you realize that you don’t need all of the words you wrote.
I see a lot of typos on newspaper websites where speed appears to be more valued than accuracy.
Fans of good editing might enjoy Mervin Block. He has a series of online articles where he reviews nightly TV newscasts.
OK the ♥ is okay, but it drives me up a wall to receive abbreviated text as; ‘u r’.
The truly sad part is the lack of education.
I realize this is actually a normal evolution of any language through time, but this is getting a little scary. I love technology as much as many do.
Can’t we keep our knowledge and civilized ways in tact while enjoying our ‘techno’ gadgets?
You, and your followers/readers are smart and funny. But as one pointed out, it really IS a serious issue. I have noticed a decline in the quality of writing in various newspapaer. (Yes, content as well.) Due to cost cutting, there are fewer people checking for quality, and of those, many seem to be clueless as to the rules of grammar. I equate it to the number of internet hoaxes that go unchallenged. Its not that people are lazy. I just don’t think they feel its important any more.
And did each of you triple check your reply so as not to look like an idiot? I know I dood.
Great post! It resonated with me in many ways.
And I love the poem – I found it interesting how much longer it took me to actually read and comprehend it….
I’m going to disagree with some of the posters here. I don’t mind most social network shorthand. I know what people mean when they say “how r u?” It is universal and unambiguous, so informal though it may be, it meets the requirements of language.
And while it’s easy to blame thumb-typing, over-aggressive auto correct and the bad habits that young people learn by twitter-abreviating everything, I think typo-mania is pervasive even among people who don’t use that short hand.
I have a couple of clients who not only tend to send emails loaded with typos, but they are invariably typos that leave the meaning of a sentence ambiguous. One client in particular will write an email that probably means one thing, but might also mean its exact opposite. The one trait most of these people share is that they are overworked and over busy. So, I email a question, wait two hours for a reply, receive an ambiguous one, email back for clarification and wait two hours again for confirmation.
men! As an English major and editor of my college paper, and whose first job involved proofreading the index of a State’s travel guide (by one person reading it aloud to another, who knew correct proofreading marks, too), I also deplore typos and punctuation goofs -lots of newbies who don’t know what a semi-colon is, or how to use it.
And yet, I’ve hit “send” before proofing, too: I can spell, but I never managed to squeeze in that typing course – and I now catch myself using “texting language” in email.
It’s disappointing to see that the former standard-bearers – this means you, New York Times – have dropped the flag.
Is this another manifestation of entropy?
Bruce,
U. R. the best. This wil be recuired reading four my music business class. Many of the studens submit paperz that look lik text measages, and it drive me crazy!
Thanx!
Bruce, earlier this year you wrote a post discussing how the world has changed since you first started your career in marketing. One need not worry about the quality of the camera or the focus of the video, you said. The world was more interested in the relevance of the content within their micro-niche and the method of delivery, i.e. can they get it on their iPhone.
For the millennial generation who grew up on txt messages, perhaps grammar and spelling will no longer matter. After all, speed of txting depends upon your ability to type the fewest letters and still be understood. Maybe that will be the new paradigm by the time this young generation is old enough to run businesses, including marketing businesses.
And, guys like you and me will be in our rocking chairs bellyaching about the state of the world.
In fact, we already are…..
Bruce,
Your post reminds me of how in my single days of subscribing to dating websites I would delete and block any aspiring first daters with mispelling or grammatical errors in their profiles. Picky? Yes. but not that desperate, even though I was over 40 and running out of eggs.
Well done Bruce. I die those same thousand cuts when I make sloppy mistakes or am the victim of my own quick finger taps on my iPhone or iPad. But the point about weeding out resumes is spot on! Thanks for the post. I’ll share it with my team this week.
Hi Bruce,
Tru ‘dat. I spent several of my younger years as a copy editor at several major book publishing companies. I totally appreciate what you’re blogging about. However, “times they are a changin’” and I have to agree with my fellow commenter John Calia, I think there will be a brand new paradigm of our “dying” English grammar as well as handwriting as the decades roll on. Did you know that some schools have stopped teaching children how to write in cursive?
LOVE this one in particular, forwarded it to many of my teacher colleagues! We are so often mortified by the quality of writing and spelling coming out of our students. We attribute much of it to texting with all the abbreviated discussion. So funny, got an e mail from a parent on the last day of school last year who evidently had a ipad with auto correct- it said, ” Dear Mrs. Berserk,” instead of Mrs. Berse! Now there is another issue altogether- how do you feel about all of this crazy technology and the effect it has on the already disappointing spelling and grammar we are seeing?
My faverit post so far. ha ha! I know that you know that I know how to spell.
I share your frustration. I cringe when I make mistakes of my own. The sad part is that I don’t think most people are even aware that they are making mistakes. It amazes me that kids can graduate without having learned the basics – spelling, grammar, punctuation.
(I’m checking for errors before I hit “submit”.)