Wednesday, May 9, 2018

On Spelling Correctly

I apologize in advance. This blog is not perfect. If you can help, do so but please send me a message or email (btorris@gmail.com). The comment section is not the right place for that sort of thing.

I posted a question on my Women of Midlife Facebook page the other day. It looked like this: 


Thirty-six (36) responses later I was scratching my head because I was surprised. Is that a good idea? Should you correct spelling in comments and (like the commenter that started it all did) even criticize the pictures? Maybe so and then again, maybe no.
The English teachers were adamant and felt "compelled" to point out a misspelled word. In a blog post spelling errors are just plain wrong and if you do that, you need to be corrected. 

Others took a gentler approach suggesting that, if it was a glaring mistake, you should send an email or a Facebook message. They thought it was rude to post a comment with a spelling correction suggestion. No one, not one single person, said it was to be expected and, because blogging is what it is, could be overlooked.

Oh my goodness, do I need to clean up my act or what? I do make a real effort to do the right thing with spelling/grammar but I know I cannot see my own mistakes for at least a week. I don't have a human to read my writing and no computer editor is that perfect.

So how does that change my blogging life? You know things will need to be straightened up around here.

So, I am inviting anyone that sees a spelling/grammatical error to send me a message on Facebook or by email. I think posting a comment with that information is rude. I may not want to hear it, even in an email, but it will make me a better writer i.e. I do not want to hear from you in that context. 

So...how many errors did you find?

And what do you think?

b+

Note: Errors in fact definitely need to be pointed out in an email or Facebook message. Getting the facts right is too important.

This post has been edited using Word!

7 comments:

  1. Goodness, I would never respond that someone spelt a word wrong.There are numerous times I have a word misspelt either by not catching it or whatever. That's just life.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for that...I think more people feel the same way than I realize. However...I am going to be more "perfect" in the future. :)

      Delete
  2. I do appreciate the correction b/c I don't like that mistake hanging out there for everyone else to see. And then I remind myself: Pobody's Nerfect.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh, this is a difficult one. Multiple spelling mistakes really would annoy me. Our village magazine has recently acquired a new and very enthusiastic editor. Unfortunately spelling is her downfall and there are generally three or four mistakes every edition. I sometimes grind my teeth and have a moan but stop myself as I know it would be difficult to find someone to take on this unpaid task. Computers and tablets have a lot to answer for too. It is so much easier to see a mistake when you write rather than type. Please keep on carrying on with your blog as normal. There is no need to invite corrections! If someone does not like what or how something is written they can always unsubscribe.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for your support. I will not change but I am going to try to be more careful. Rushing to publish is not a good thing. :)

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  4. I use the background app "Grammerly", it does the spelling and punctuation stuff in real time. A nice app. But sometimes I do get annoyed that it wants to put so many commas in my posts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I punctuate in a very willy nilly manner. But, my voice is mine so the punctuation needs to be mine too. It is hard to walk the line between correct and functional don't you think? Thank you RJ for the reminder about Grammerly. I did use it for a while. I don't remember why I quit...probably a charge was involved. :-/

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