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.
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.
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.
(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.)
🙂