Current mood: disappointed
Category: Blogging
Unlike most of my blogs, this one is intended to be serious. It is NOT intended to be hurtful, or spiteful, or pompous, or rude, or negative in any way - merely a reflection of my own beliefs based upon my own experience and learning.
I don't know why I even bother. Too many things must be more important to the rest of the world to care about simple things like this. I guess my priorities are COMPLETELY skewed. After all, how many people posting anything on the Internet REALLY CARE how they spell? Or how you or I spell? Spelling is way overrated, right?
I have, from time to time, read or viewed pieces (articles in someone's blog, tutorial videos, etc.) on the Internet which, it would appear, the creator intends others to understand an opinion based upon facts, or to teach their audience some bit of wisdom or other, that I found almost entirely unbelievable. The reason is simple - it was riddled with spelling and grammar errors, most of which are simple and basic - using homonymns like "to", "too" and "two" incorrectly, ending sentences with dangling prepositions and so forth.
I don't mean an occasion typo. I don't mean one complicated word which has one letter wrong. And one sentence mispunctuated, or with the wrong tense, is not a real issue (unless, of course, the author is a professional writer). Now, I will be the first to admit that, in everyday speech, I will often make one of these basic errors. I even let one or two slip in emails or blogs. But even when I send an email or a text message, even an IM, I try to write gramatically correctly, and with spelling and usage as correct as I can. And if I see very many of these kinds of mistakes made in someone else's posted material, I feel I should inform them of them, so they may correct them or blow me off.
I have found from such endeavors that the responses tend to fall into one of three categories: the grateful ones, who weren't aware of the mistakes and thanked me for telling them; the pompous ones, who feel that, if all I can do is nitpick their piece, then I don't need their information; and the ignorant ones, and this is the most annoying group - they tend to belittle me because I belittled them. They are offended that I dared criticized them, EVEN THOUGH what they posted is in a public forum with a means to post comments - regardless of the site or its rules of membership, if it's on the Internet and I can read it, it is a public forum. I don't join pay sites as a rule.
My comments run along the form of the following:
"Your piece was interesting. I would find it more interesting/credible/informative
if the spelling/grammar/both was better."
I sometimes cite mistakes as well, as examples. If they respond at all, it is as I said above. The grateful ones often correct their errors and let me know. I reread what they posted and comment again, feeling as if I found a potential friend. If responses run along the lines of the other two, I tend to disregard the one piece, and any others they may later post, as garbage.
Why do I do this? I hear someone ask.
Simple. I have learned long ago that classroom environments are not the only places or times in life in which spelling and grammar are important. An employer who is looking for a detail-oriented person is not going to hire a candidate who makes these kinds of mistakes on either a resume or an application form. The bank loan officer who sees an applicant with a credit score of 496, with more than enough income to cover the loan for which they've applied, and a neat, tasteful appearance may see these kinds of mistakes as underlying signs of sloppiness or carelessness in the applicant's affairs, which may indicate a poorer risk than their score or income indicate. A student applying to receive a grant or scholarship is less likely to get anything if the representative reading the application thinks a 12-year-old wrote it instead of a high school graduate. There are so many other examples I can give as well.
My point is simple - if you want to be taken seriously, as someone who is imparting facts - or even a considered opinion - you should use excellent grammar and vocabulary skills. If you don't, your target audience will tend to dismiss what you say. After all, if spelling or grammar aren't important to you as an author, you imply that your work isn't important enough to you to research your facts. You actually question to your audience whether the facts or premises in your work are accurate and researched. I can't take seriously someone who pooh-poohs accuracy and effectiveness. Poorly proofread articles or video captions indicate the author/composer didn't care much about their work or its message. Why should I care, either?
Comment, or not, as you prefer.
Rock on!
Durham
