Spelling Bee: Why Good Communication Relies on Good Spelling

As an editor at Pace Communications, I proofread for several hours a day.  That makes it hard to turn off my internal spell check after hours.

I hope my friends will agree that I keep my mouth shut when we’re at a restaurant offering “salmon stakes” or “lemmon tart.” As long as the food is delicious and the service is effective, I’m happy.

English is a really complex language, and if we can’t laugh at how insanely difficult it is to master, life would be very bleak indeed. Check out Engrish or Jeff Deck’s blog, representing the Typo Eradication Advancement League.

But I’m less lenient on fellow communications professionals. A friend was invited recently to become an independent sales rep for a multi-level marketing company.  She shared the recruiting materials with me to get my opinion, and the mental red lights started flashing as I read.

These brochures, which proposed that she invest a sizable start-up fee and ongoing monthly service costs, were littered not just with spelling errors but also with repeated lines of copy and handwritten corrections. While some of the materials were clean PDFs printed from the Web, others were documents that had been copied and recopied to the point of illegibility.

Good organizations work hard to protect their brand. The Vancouver Olympic Games is one example, and they win respect for that attention to detail.

And while not every business has the resources of the International Olympic Committee behind them, every business can up their game by paying attention to detail. Just ask Tabatha Coffey. I’m waiting for the communications version of her show, or Fox’s Kitchen Nightmares. I’ll grill up some “salmon stakes” and invite my editing fiends over for the “premere.”

Posted By: Britta Waller

Comment(s): 3  |  (+) Add a Comment

Peggy Clapper said on 14 Apr, 2010 at 6:59 PM
You are "preaching to the choir" with me. My favorite misspelling has been in front of the Battleground Wal-Mart for years. On the pavement is written YEILD.

Alicia said on 20 Feb, 2010 at 12:12 AM
Larry, my husband will not patronize any business that uses Papyrus! It's his most-hated font. He takes it as a personal affront.

Larry Williams said on 20 Jan, 2010 at 9:22 PM
BW, well done! But from a design perspective, I have a hard time eating anywhere that uses Zapf Chancery. I certainly run if they use Papyrus in all caps.

Post Comments

Name: *Required

E-mail: *Required, but will not be displayed

URL: *Optional

Please enter the word you see in the image below: