I am a speller, always have been. I remember the first words I learned to read:
“See Spot run.” If I have ever seen a word
in writing, I remember how it is spelled.
It’s just how my brain is wired.
A misspelled word will jump off the page to me like an incorrect number
will to an accountant. If you ever see a
misspelled word in my blog, I humbly apologize.
It’s a typo!!!
Anywho, what brought this to mind was an advertising email I
just received from a linen store. The
subject line was “Peak Inside.” (This caused pain in my brain!) Now, I can see misspelling there, their and they’re, but peek? Oddly enough, I saw another homophone of
peek misspelled just yesterday. An
interoffice communication suggested we peak
someone’s interest, instead of pique. (sigh)
I have actually seen brake
for break in a blog, by an actual
writer! And there’s the ubiquitous your used instead of you’re.
Ok, I’m on a roll (not role)
now. Hardly anybody knows how to leave
the apostrophe out of its. I understand the confusion on that one, but
the apostrophe is only for the contraction it’s. It is, I promise. J If you’re speaking of something belonging to
it, the spelling is its. In its
possessive form it’s spelled that
way.
My first instinct when I see a misspelled word is to think a
little less of the intelligence of the person who wrote it. But then I remember that I often get numbers
wrong. I know that makes me appear to a
numbers person like I’m not quite intelligent, and I really am. Really.
So, I try to overlook the mistakes that are obvious (to me only), and
see what the writer is trying to say. Sometimes I succeed.
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