Spelling mistakes can hurt
At Eye for Image, we see spelling mistakes every day. Some make us cringe, others make us laugh. We cringed and laughed when we saw the job title “Pubic Sector Analyst.” Ooops. Even spellcheck wouldn’t help with that one.
But can you just imagine you are a Public Sector Analyst? You’re at a meeting. You’ve just given out your business cards to each of the 10 people at the table. Then you notice the missing letter ‘l’ in your job title. How on earth do you recover from that one???
Spelling. For some, it’s a cinch. For others, it’s a minefield. It’s one of the very first things we begin to learn at school, and we keep on learning as long as we are reading and writing. Oh, how spellcheck programs have simplified our lives! But those pesky misspellings show up anyway.
Our recent WordSpin article on misspellings in English lists 16 common ones. Check it out and see if you learn something new.
Got a memorable spelling mistake yourself? Post a comment on this blog entry and let us know what it was. We promise to laugh with you, not at you!
August 11th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
There’s some classics in here nats . . .
http://www.flickr.com/groups/spelling/
August 12th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Nice article - did you leave the “dubble letters” blooper there on purpose?
August 12th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Well spotted, Claus!
Did you find the other two, too?
Glad you liked the article.
August 12th, 2008 at 11:57 am
Here’s my favourite ‘dubble letter’ error.
My first teaching job was for a company in Poland called Target. They issued a brochure with the front-cover strapline of:
Target
Proffessional Language Consultants
The company is no longer in business.
August 14th, 2008 at 8:46 am
Looks like spelling isn’t always a laughing matter. An article from ChinaTechNews.com called “Nokia Asked To Apologize For Spelling Mistakes” states:
“Wang Yingde, a lawyer from Hunan Qishun Law Firm, has told local media that he will join with other Chinese consumers to launch a lawsuit against Nokia for including incorrect Chinese characters on Nokia phones.
On May 28, a consumer surnamed Zhang reported to Chinese media that he had found more than 30 wrong or misspelled characters on Nokia’s mobile phones. Zhang, who previously was a Chinese teacher, believed these incorrect characters not only harmed consumer’s interests, but also undermined the great power of the Chinese language. He therefore filed a lawsuit against Nokia and requested the company to recall all the problematic mobile phones and apologize to Chinese consumers.”
You can read the full article here:
http://www.chinatechnews.com/2007/06/29/5572-nokia-asked-to-apologize-for-spelling-mistakes/