Wednesday, June 10, 2009

please excues the typos

I think I was an English teacher in my last life. Or at least an editor. I have a thing for words - I'm kind of spelling spaz, I'm always fake-typing when I'm bored and it drives me crazy to see typos and easy grammatical errors - especially in public places. Maybe I need to define "public place" but recently I came across a blog where the author excuses her spelling errors because it's just a blog. Granted, she writes every day, but it's not like it's a blog about her dog or the pie she made last weekend. It's more like professional career advice, writing about jobs and work - where a typo can cost someone an interview or a new client.

Some might argue that if one's point is made, if the idea is conveyed, then the minor details are a moot point. But quality is quality - from the tiniest of details to the grandest of ideas. And I'm worried that we're increasingly satisfied with decreasing standards.

So, in a small act of quality control, I urge you to be conscious of what you are sharing with the world - whether it's an email to your friend, a birthday card for your daughter or a blog post about how cool it is to be Dutch. If we don't insist on the best, who will?

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