By Katie Stobbart (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: April 10, 2013
I know there are others like me out there. People who can’t stand to see a misused semi-colon, or who experience a deep, visceral horror when they spot that unmistakable spelling error in bold all-caps type in the middle of a campus bulletin board, standing out as a symbol of the slow, painful death of the English language. Perhaps this reaction seems extreme. If not, there may yet be hope for one of our main methods of communication, the written word.
This is a widespread problem. I spot grammatical errors, spelling errors, missing words and improper punctuation every single day in menus, advertisements, newspapers, creative works, professional and legal documents, informative pamphlets, essays and labels on a variety of products.
In one case, I purchased a package of stickers from a company selling scrapbooking supplies, and three quarters of the stickers with words on them were spelled incorrectly. (The company did send me free stickers when I complained … but the new stickers also contained spelling errors.)
So what’s the big deal? Why are a few spelling mistakes important? The main reason is that those mistakes completely undermine my faith in the person or organization making them. If I have not met a person, and (s)he is giving me information, the words they have written are my first impression of their intelligence and credibility. For example, if I receive an email supposedly from my telephone service provider, and many of the words are misspelled or there are significant grammatical errors, my first impression tells me that the email is spam. If I see that a government organization can’t string a proper sentence together or proofread for accuracy in its newsletter or pamphlet, it doesn’t inspire my faith that the organization is capable of carrying out its functions.
The occasional spelling error or typographical mistake is not a huge issue; I’m talking about consistent and really inexcusable errors. How many times does a person have to be taught how to spell “piece” or whether (s)he should use to, two or too? This stuff starts in the first grade. It gets corrected time and time again. I don’t make a habit of trusting people who are incapable of learning from their mistakes, so how is this any different? And it doesn’t stop: I’ve seen third- and fourth-year English majors make these errors. People are still unsure of when to use a period versus a comma. Do we forget how to add 2+2? (And while I’m on the subject of math, it’s not possible to “minus three from seven.” The word is subtract. Minus is not a verb.)
In a perfect world, people would take a grammar and spelling test in order to enter post-secondary studies or the workforce. It doesn’t say much for our education system that I can’t go a single day without spotting at least one, but usually multiple errors. What will communication look like on that day when the majority of the population has decided that it isn’t important to do something well, as long as the gist of the message gets across?
I’m not just talking about spelling; I’m talking about apathy. Who cares whether something is right, if my doctor or lawyer or teacher doesn’t know how to write? Who cares how language is used or misused?
Rita Mae Brown tells us that “language is the roadmap of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.”
So when I see that bold error in capital letters, I can’t help but wonder: where are we going?
