Mini-rant of the afternoon

Today I have been assaulted by poor spelling.

I've come to learn to live with this. The fact is that most people can't spell, or don't give a shit about checking, so you end up with ignorance that spreads like rancid icing over a freshly-baked cake.

But when it comes from supposedly reputable sources, I get crazy.

From today's NY Times Opinion Page – the Editorial Opinion of the Newspaper of Record:

"Hungry people who get federal food aid don't horde it."

I saw this in print. I was sad all over again to see nobody fixed it for the Web page.

Then, today I received some entries for a contest in which I am a judge. The letter accompanying them used "currier" instead of "courier."

Who uses "currier" for anything except to go with "& Ives"?

The organization?

The Society of Professional Journalists.

And now, off to flay myself.

3 Comments

  1. Roboco on 2/25/09 at 1:08 pm

    i sympathize!  i’m an absolute grammar snob, and spelling is a critical component.  i hate to see those kinds of problems, especially from a journalist.



  2. Armchair News on 2/25/09 at 1:12 pm

    Exactly! It’s one thing to casually write an email and misspell something, as I’m sure I do all the time.

    It’s another to write something professionally and still screw it up.

    Horde indeed.



  3. Roboco on 2/25/09 at 1:20 pm

    (i did notice my poor adherence to standards regarding capitalization, but blogs are “free space” to me.  i don’t always follow the rules here.)

    🙂