Every so often I see a Tweet.
It’s so unprofessional when bloggers have spelling mistakes! It doesn’t take long to proofread!
It makes me cringe. Mostly because I know that I probably have a spelling mistake in 80% of my posts.
About a year ago, I decided to stop caring because I’ve learnt it’s something I can’t control.
So I can either worry about it and feel pants when I find a mistake after publishing or realise that there are a million other things that are more important. Like playing Xbox or making out with my boyfriend.
For every blogger that’s ever had a smarmy remark in their comments about using a comma in the wrong place. For every blogger that’s ever had a shitty Tweet about how they’ve used the wrong form of your – this is for you.
So here’s the thing. Spelling is important because we put a lot of work into our blog posts and we want them to be as perfect as they can be. It’s normal to feel silly when there’s a mistake. Edit it and get on with your day.
But it’s not the end of the world.
For most of us, we’re not professional bloggers. It’s just a blog. I think a lot of us forget that and get caught up with trying to make everything so perfect that we can never live up to our own standards.
When I write a blog post, I spell check it. I use Grammarly and I proof read a few times. I’ve never been great at spelling and as I’m dyslexic, I find mistakes hard to find. Most of my mistakes are usually wrong words rather than spelling mistakes. It happens more often than I would like. But I’ve decided not to care anymore.
It was making me feel embarrassed. It still does a little. But why should it?
I know that I work hard on my blog and I proofread. Just because there’s an error here and there doesn’t mean I don’t care about my blog or that I’ll just post any old thing.
It means I’m a human and I make mistakes and THAT’S OKAY.
So can we all be a bit nicer to ourselves and each other about errors in blog posts?
Because I’m sick of seeing Tweets about it. Stop bringing other bloggers down over things that mean nothing.
Because it seriously DOES NOT MATTER.
I agree with you on so many levels! Do people also forget that we all come from different countries? Yes, there’s bound to be a few spelling errors but once again it’s our blog I will dammit right post a blog the way I see fit with Grammer issues and all!
Even spellchecks get it wrong sometimes, especially when they are based on American English. If I got a penny for every time spellchecks told me I’d spelt “favourite” wrong I’d be so rich. Besides, it’s been proven that as long as the first and last letter is correct our brain can work it out (I think they discovered this while doing research into dyslexia).
My main bugbear is when people use a turn of phase incorrectly or have just gotten it completely wrong. Like saying some one is “leaves dropping” instead of “eaves dropping” or saying “for all intensive purposes” instead of “for all intents and purposes” (that last one managed to get published in someone’s novel).
Laura \\ http://thatgallowaygirl.com/
xoxo
People shouldn’t get so high and mighty about spelling mistakes, it is NOT the end of the world! Spotting them would never put me off my favourite blogs, I’m not the grammar police! Some people seem to think they’re being helpful by pointing out these mistakes but no, NOBODY has asked them to so WHY? Don’t they have anything better to do with their day?
Sarah 🙂
For those that spelling and grammar comes easily too, great I am pleased for you. Rubbing your intelligence in another’s face doesn’t make you smarter. There are some great apps to help now Lucy x
English is not my first language, but I still get upset if I make a mistake. I started learning English when I was 7, at school, so I should be able to speak and write perfectly, but mistakes happen, sometimes is only a typo.
I’m currently employed at the Grammar Police HQ here in La La Land, and I’d just like to comp this article.
The thing is, nobody knows the background of the writer. I try to proofread my stuff, but bothered. I read a blog (well, many, but this is a very particular one) by a severly dyslexic woman. She gets comments CONSTANTLY about her grammar & spelling, despite her being completely “out” about having a hard time. And here I am, thinking “well, I can read & understand this, so what does it matter where the friggin’ L is?”
Or non-natives? British v American? Someone once pointed out to me that I spelled ‘Color’ wrong. No I didn’t, you did ya pleb. And I once got a 1000-word email about a typo on a blogpost. I replied saying ‘apologies for getting one word wrong when writing in my 3rd language. How would you write that in Finnish?’. Because I’m petty like that.
There’s two occasions I’ll correct someone: 1. when they’re annoying self-righteous little weasels (of which there are loads. See above ‘petty’ argument :D) and 2. when it’s obviously a sponsored post with a typo in the brand name or something similar. But in that case it’ll be a private “you might want to look at”
This has turned into War&Peace but SPELLING GETS ME GOING!
Also, where did my formatting go? I AM POLICING MYSELF NOW! This has become a travesty!
Ahh! I know there is probably spelling mistakes in my blog posts and you are right it doesn’t matter.
I’ve never noticed any spelling mistakes in your blog posts….Some people go looking for things to complain about….
I usually proof mine once before publishing and then again afterwards, and if I see anything I’ll change it – but if I miss something, I don’t care! 🙂 Tania Michele xx
i do care about spelling, but agree that it’s not the most important thing! i do appreciate a well-written post, but everyone makes (spelling) mistakes and i know i make them on a regular basis as well. and as everyone has different backgrounds, learning abilities etc, making fun of or constantly critisizing someone for little things like this is just so pointless. xx
I couldn’t agree more, Corinne and seriously, people need to give others some slack. Completely understand that they are so perfect and we are nothing like them…*eyeroll*
I have my husband to thank because he proof reads all my posts and even then sometimes he missed a couple of spelling or grammar mistakes and FFS, he only speaks one language, English. People make mistakes so yea, grammar and spelling mistakes will happen because well….we’re only human.
As a massive grammar nazi, I find it very easy to spot errors. I also find it a tad distracting, and that annoys me. Not because the human on the other end made a mistake, but because I personally can’t just look past it. I hate that I notice something as stupid as an incorrect usage of “your” or a small spelling error. As long as the post is clear and easy to read, why care if there are minor errors?
Also, if you’re the type to point these things out to the poster, you’re a dick. Just because I see them, doesn’t mean I point them out!
Spelling and grammar do not matter in a blog as far as I am concerned, especially if you have as strong a narrative voice as you do.
On occasions I’ve let someone know by way of DM if I see something I worry will get a blogger I like shitty responses – but that is only ever an act of support/concern…people who jump on that shit need a good shake and reminder about the things that actually matter in the world, that they could be spending their time on instead. And I hate people who would choose to crap on someone’s hard work – especially when most of the time they’ve completely ignored the opportunity to help rather than hinder.
Honestly the one thing I think when people point out spelling mistakes is how sad is your life? Yes, I would not read a post which is barely legible but hankering on about a few typos, auto-correct and spelling mistakes is really tacky. Also I don’t think people consider how many situations are at play here – the writer’s native language may not be the language they are writing in, they might be dyslexic, it might be an auto-correct, their education might not be on par with yours etc etc. Its such a one dimensional privileged point of view – I don’t think those people understand and recognise that.
Totally agree! Although I notice spelling mistakes, I’d never point them out. The only time I point out an error to a blogger is if it’s quite an oversight. For example, recently I noticed a blogger had left **** in place of the description of a product they were reviewing. It’s an easy mistake to make, I’ve probably done the same in the past or will in the future, but I knew if it were me, I’d want to know. So I kindly let them know via private message and they were so grateful, and went to edit the post. Spelling mistakes, grammar mistakes, they’re minor and not a big deal!!