No Checking Spells Disaster

I know there are many worse things in the world but it really irritates me when I see spelling and grammatical errors.

I was in a petrol station last week where a sign said that they were going to be closing for ‘maintenence’. The same day I found a shop that was looking for someone who could work ‘flexable’ hours. These were produced on a PC so what’s the excuse for not doing a spell check? Worse still, I saw an ad for one of BT’s business services on a website which promised they would ‘moniter’ activities.

There is a renowned Press Officer at a Midlands concert venue who has made an art form out of sloppiness. He/she recently referred to Foden's Richardson Band as Foden Richardsons Brass Band and The Foden’s Richardson Brass Band, both in the same press release, but never by the correct name. It’s a Council-owned venue so I assume their Equal Opportunities Policy extends to not discriminating against people who can’t copy the words in front of them.

This may all seem a little anally retentive in our 'let everyone do their own thing' world but there is a serious point. A lot of us do care about spelling and grammar, therefore when a business gets it wrong, it undermines our confidence that the company will get other more important things right.