Typos In Posts and the Wisdom of Dilbert
I write a lot during the day. Often I just crank out what I can, and when I do that (as MANY have noticed) I let a few typos slip through onto the page. Some people then jump into the comments section, and instead of discussing the topic of the post, decide to make statements about the typos, saying I’m “unprofessional” and that somehow me misspelling Arnold Schartzenegger discredits the opinion of the post… like anyone cares what their opinion on typos are. You see this a lot on Digg too. To me it’s not important, and that’s why I don’t spend a lot of time correcting that stuff.
Anyway, my favorite comic strip right now (now that Calvin and Hobbes is finished) is Dilbert. If you don’t read Dilbert on a regular basis… you REALLY should. It’s not only funny… but quite smart too. Anyway, I came across this Dilbert strip addressing this very issue, and I just had to post it. Cheers!
43 Comments, Comment or Ping
GODFATHER
Haha…Too funny.
As someone that’s pointed out your misspellings, it’s refreshing to know you at least you have a sense of humour about it, John.
Cheers
Jul 13th, 2007
IncliningPizza
HA HA! Perfect! I hear they’re making a Dilbert movie sometime in the future, which surprised me because when I read that I wished there was a Calvin and Hobbes movie. That would be awesome!
Jul 13th, 2007
miles
lol, i usually just jump in to throw a ‘lol’ at the funnier ones.
i am someone who could greatly benefit from a proofreader.
Jul 13th, 2007
Naught
Well. It’s not as simple as that, but it’s Dilbert, so I will forgive you for typos from now on :)
Jul 13th, 2007
Jayowen
Scott Adams also talks about it in his daily blog:
“When I started this blog, I announced that I wasn’t going to put any real effort into my grammar, spelling or factual accuracy. For every person bothered by those imperfections, there’s another who appreciates the rawness of it. I could double my effort to get that extra 20% of quality, but it wouldn’t buy me anything.”
http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/06/golden_happines.html
Jul 13th, 2007
Drew
Idiocracy in motion.
Jul 13th, 2007
Michael
Brilliant! I’ve just can’t abide those people who, in the midst of a conversation about a topic, break in with “you can’t even spell Idaho” blah blah blah.
So what? You couldn’t understand what the point was? You couldn’t follow the conversation? How did that remark contribute to the dialog going on?
Dilbert is a treasure!
Jul 13th, 2007
jason
When did spelling words correctly become such a burden? If you’re not sure on a spelling, it takes 2 seconds to look it up.
Is it really that hard to learn the differences among there, their and they’re? Or the difference between effect and affect?
It’s just lazy and sloppy for something that requires minimum effort.
Jul 13th, 2007
Michael
Jason, no one is saying spelling is a burden. But typos happen from time to time, and acting ignorant by breaking up a conversation about a topic just to draw attention to ones self to smugly complain about a typo is far more egregious in my opinion.
Jul 13th, 2007
shane razey
E’v awlwize ben a grate speler. Yu jus tipe wat yer thanking abut an teh werds jus com ut on teh scren. Spelchek iz fer wimeps?!
Jul 13th, 2007
@spence
Shane, that was kind of hard to read……but i have to agree Spelchek iz fer wimeps/
Jul 13th, 2007
Naught
LOL Shane. Do yu liek LOLcats? LOLHoff? Yu zound liek ze capshons on ze site, I like eet.
Jul 13th, 2007
jason
Michael,
You’re right. Typos do happen occasionally. But for a site that is much more than a personal blog, and that has a fair amount of legitimacy, misspelling a celebrity’s name is inexcusable in my book.
It isn’t that hard to find the right spelling of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s name (nor is it really that hard to spell in the first place). Why not get it right? Do you think magazines or newspapers would make those types of mistakes?
With the proliferation of internet news and commentary sites, it shouldn’t be too much to ask that they take the same precautions and read over something before posting it.
It might not seem like something to even argue about it, because the point of a post with typos in it is still clear. But at the same time, why should there be such indignation over the 30-second process of proofreading?
Jul 13th, 2007
shane razey
nAuGhT-y:
Yez ie reely liek LoLcats!?.
@spENce:
Mie tipeen iz herten mie eiyez-ballz. Maebee Ei ned SpelChek affer awl?>!3
Jul 13th, 2007
Michael
Jason, I think you’re missing the point. There is no indignation over proofreading. The point is that it’s irritating when people make an issue over it. It’s when people exhibit indignation over typos that is extremely irritating.
Typos happen. Ok. Fine. Move on. What does griping about it in a posted story thread do to further the conversation about that story? Nothing.
People who bring up typos in threads are irritating, unless that typo somehow blurs the meaning of the story.
Jul 13th, 2007
@spence
LOL Shane…..
Jul 13th, 2007
jason
I’m not missing the point, we’re just arguing two different ones. Hijacking a thread to point out a typo is unproductive — we can all agree on that.
But I’m focusing on another point made in the original post:
“To me it’s not important, and that’s why I don’t spend a lot of time correcting that stuff.”
I think it’s unfortunate that spelling, grammar, capitalization, etc., have become unimportant to some people. Especially on a site such as this one.
Jul 13th, 2007
jason
Not only that, but if you take the time originally to correct that stuff, there won’t be any “thread hijackers” or “grammar police” to worry about.
In other words, problem solved thanks to an extra 30 seconds.
Jul 13th, 2007
Calviin
I’ve always benefited from the fact that my browser has a spell checker built into it, so when I am typing my own posts, or comments to posts, it underlines misspellings in red for me. Then I can easily right-click each of them when I am finished typing to correct their spellings. I already used it twice in this comment alone. Quite convenient (I had to use the spell checker for that word). I find I end up with less (as in zero) people using my spelling as a reason to disagree with me. It’s been quite a blessing in having more engaging forum discussions.
Jul 13th, 2007
Ryan
Well it’s sad to see that men incapable of having a conversation about a subject matter without getting distracted by the spelling and grammar in such conversations. It really borderlines on a deficiency in the ability to focus on the task at hand. I wonder if such people are effective at their jobs if they can’t sift through all the distractions and actually concentrate on what they are doing. With our fast paced society, there is sparse time to be bothered with such minute inaccuracies. The human brain is a marvellous thing, and as long as the thought is conveyed and understood, the medium in which it is translated shouldn’t be scrutinized as long as it works. It isn’t as though such mistakes are purposefully done. And I believe that understanding the gibberish that young folks type these days is an art in itself.
Jul 13th, 2007
Dan
I like Dilbert, and yes, that’s a funny strip. :)
But I am one of those guys who notices typos. A lot. Even now I am aware that my previous two sentences are grammatically incorrect. But I try not to point these things out, because people that correct others’ mistakes are usually hated by everyone else.
Think about this, though. If you work for a prestigious company where all of the men wear dress shirts and ties, yet you wear a t-shirt and jeans, that will affect others’ opinions about you. If you were to simply say, “To me it’s not important,” that would only reflect negatively on you in the eyes of those to whom it IS important. And you might lose your job for not following the dress code.
I know it’s not a perfect example, but hopefully it makes sense.
Jul 13th, 2007
Drew
Gotta agree with Jason on this one.
First of all, there’s a difference between a typo and a misspelling. Typos happen to everyone. Fine. But when it’s deemed not important or we just overlook it so long as we get the thought or idea that is trying to be conveyed, that is unfortunate.
When John says spelling isn’t important, all I can do is shake my head and think about how our society is getting closer and closer to Mike Judge’s “Idiocracy” every day.
If one were an Italian food critic and misspelled Linguini, that would be pretty awful. If their finger slipped and they accidentally put a “B” in place of the “G”, that would be understandable. But a blatant misspelling of a very important word in their professional vocabulary is inexcusable and would make me much less inclined to care about or trust their opinion. So yeah, when I see the name “Josh Whedon” or “Arnold Shwartzanegger” on a movie blog about “correct opinions” it bugs me a little.
Having said that, no I usually don’t point out people’s typos. That’s annoying and a waste of my time anyway since I don’t care if someone can’t spell or is too lazy to look up a word. That’s their own failings within the education system; not my problem.
Jul 13th, 2007
John Campea
Hey Andrew,
First of all, I never said spelling wasn’t important. What I said, was that here on a blog, if one slips by me then it’s not important enough to waste my time going back 2 hours later to fix it as long as the idea of the post got across.
Also, your example is misplaced when you said:
“If one were an Italian food critic and misspelled Linguini, that would be pretty awful.”
That might apply when I’m writing a op-ed piece for my local newspaper. But here on my blog, it’s not the end of the world. I generally shake my head at people who would devalue the opinion of another person just because the spell Whedon the wrong way.
So you may see me as the first step to idiocracy, but I see it a better prioritization when the main point here is ideas, thoughts, opinions and conversation… to not lose sleep if I or a commenter accidentally misspelled “asphyxiation” when communicating that thought.
Jul 13th, 2007
djjjj
While I agree with the general fear of the “idiocracy” I personally think that spelling ability has little to do with it. On the list of educational worries spelling should sit in about the same place as penmanship. Maybe one step up…and please, lets not start defending penmanship. This is of course a matter of degree. If its so bad as to truly lead to consistent failures of communication then sure, there is a problem. The occasional bad habit, who cares.
Jul 13th, 2007
John Campea
Hey DJJJJ
Your comment kind of brought this into focus for me a little bit more.
Some people have the wrong idea that a post on The Movie Blog, should be treated with the same care that you would with an english assignment, or an article in a newspaper.
The Movie Blog has never tried to be, or to come across as “professional”. I don’t write on here like I’m crafting my next Pulitzer for Time. I write on here like I’m emailing my buddy about a movie topic.
Sometimes people just get mad at me because they think they know how to run TMB better than I do, and get mad when I don’t do it that way.
(please note, not anyone in this thread… just in general)
Jul 13th, 2007
Jeff Razey
I will no longer us spell chekc. Why? Becauce then i will start to worry about more than what im saying or - because my sometimes domb coments will also need revised too. this was about sharing ideas and thoughts, raw - and my rant could be illustrated by they way i type it too
(ps, Shane LOL, Spelchek iz fer wimeps - see you tonight)
cheers brothers (and sisters)
Jul 13th, 2007
jason
Actually, John, you did say spelling wasn’t important. You mentioned misspelling Schwarzenegger and then said that it wasn’t important to you. Besides, if it was important to you, then you would have spelled his name correctly.
But back to the main point. I fail to see why someone running a blog would decline to put enough care into it to make sure that posts are spelled correctly and free of mistakes.
I don’t think anyone is looking for Pulitzer-winning material here or a treatise on proper word usage, but why is it so difficult to read over your post before putting it up on the site. That doesn’t take away from the flow of writing and may actually help get your point across better. Because, at the very least, it is distracting and sometimes humorous to read an opinion on someone like Joss Whedon while seeing his name misspelled everytime it is referenced.
Sorry for the long-winded posts, I’m just not sure why typing clean posts has become such a burden.
And this doesn’t necessarily apply to comments. The free flow of ideas in the comments section is much more important than typos. Although I’m still not sure why people are unable to read over comments, too.
Jul 13th, 2007
John Campea
No Jason, what I said was:
“To me it’s not important, and that’s why I don’t spend a lot of time correcting that stuff.”
I try to spell everything correctly the first time round… but when you bang out as much stuff as I do everyday, some things slip past you. And it’s just not important for me to go back and correct it later, because it doesn’t change the idea.
You also said:
“why is it so difficult to read over your post before putting it up on the site”
Jason, if I never looked over my stuff before putting it up there would be a LOT of mistakes. I do glance over it… but I’ve got 9 more posts to do in 3 hours… so I can’t go over it all with a fine tooth comb. The idea is clear, it gets across what it needs to get across… good enough… “POST”.
It’s a blog. Take it easy big guy. (And I spelt Arnie’s name wrong on purpose that time… it went with the point).
Jul 13th, 2007
Ryan
I can honestly say that I’m more worried about people picking out spelling errors, political correctness, social equalization to the degree it’s at and those god forsaken lawyers who take the law exactly how it is written. Society of today is so caught up in bull shit paperwork and so on, that I think it’s hindering the spending of resources on something better. Honestly I couldn’t give a flying fart how things are done, as long as they are. All this tidiness is hindering the process at getting to the goal. I scoff at the notion of idiocracy in light of a more serious problem of lack of morals. No wonder today’s generation is so cynical. Time wasted no matter how little, still does not negate the fact that it is wasted.
Jul 13th, 2007
Drew
Well again, I don’t usually point it out to people because I agree that it is annoying and overall, pointless. But since that’s what this post is about, here we are.
Anyway, I was pointing out that misspellings of words isn’t really a big deal. But when you’re talking about movies and celebrities, it might be a good idea to know that it is JOSS Whedon and not JOSH Whedon. This is just one example I’ve seen here. Does it really matter? No. I know who you’re talking about. Arnold Shwartzaneger spelled wrong? No big deal, obviously everyone knows who you mean. But I think it DOES discredit what you’re saying a bit when you don’t bother to look up the correct spelling of the very person or film you’re discussing. If you don’t even know how to spell WHO you’re talking about, it’s a little hard for a reader to take seriously WHAT you’re talking about.
My bad for misinterpreting your “spelling isn’t important” post. But it doea appear that way in the post. At least to some of us.
Jul 14th, 2007
SaraBean
I think some people need to lighten up and stop taking themselves so seriously. I think some people just like giving themselves an artificial sense of importance and like to find rare opportunities to look down their nose at people to scoff.
It’s a website people. OMG.
Jul 14th, 2007
Don
The English language belongs to everyone who uses it, and its life should change based on how even the most uneducated person uses–not ‘misuses’–words. Dictionaries do not define the ‘right’ way to use words, only the correct way based on those who are (not without some use) positioned highly in academic society.
With that said, if I’m reading something in which the author doesn’t know about or care about the difference between ‘their’ and ‘they’re’, then I have every right to discredit that author’s intellect a bit. . . which I do oftentimes while reading things online.
Jul 14th, 2007
Dan
While I agree that the content is more important than the style used to present it, for some people (including myself) it is hard to pay attention to the content when there are many very noticeable grammar and/or spelling mistakes. I am not a snob looking for a chance to pounce on people to make them feel uneducated and illiterate; my brain just involuntarily stops and corrects a mistake whenever it notices one.
Thus, when someone making a post on Kirsten Dunst keeps talking about someone named “Kristen Dunst” (and I’m not talking about one slip-up; I’m talking about calling her Kristen on several posts), I have a hard time getting to the content of what they’re saying because my brain keeps brining up red flags.
Even if spelling and other related matters are not important to you, it can alienate some of your readers who think in ways differently than you do.
Jul 14th, 2007
Drew
Well said DAN.
You stated it perfectly and more concisely than I did. It isn’t that it’s a really big deal, but my brain notices mistakes and problems whether I want it to or not; thus making the post or article harder to pay attention to and care about.
Jul 14th, 2007
Jeremy
I don’t mean to offended anyone, but I have to seriously question any persons cognitive abilities who gets “distracted” or loses focus on the meaning of a story because someone accidentally types “their” when “they’re” is supposed to be used. It’s utterly ridiculous. Then again, that comic strip says it all.
Jul 15th, 2007
Dan
Jeremy: I don’t expect you to understand since you don’t have my perspective and experience. I have a very mild case of OCD. Things like that are capable of distracting me. Calling that ridiculous is like saying it’s ridiculous that a colorblind person can’t play Uno.
I’m not saying that John should spend more time proofreading or go back and fix posts once a mistake is found. I’m just saying that for people like me, spelling and grammar do matter. John doesn’t have to cater to my desires. If it gets to the point where I don’t find it worth reading what he writes then I’ll just leave quietly without making a big fuss. I just thought I’d put my $.02 in since the topic had come up.
Jul 15th, 2007
Reed
I think you misspelled Schwarzenegger.
Jul 15th, 2007
jason
I understand the point everyone is trying to make about how the point of the post is conveyed even with misspellings, typos, grammatical mistakes, etc. But when you’re writing about celebrities and/or criticizing them, how valid is it when you can’t even get their names spelled correctly?
And I still don’t understand John’s main point. He says he has so many posts to write in a day. I feel for you. But most writers would not want something presented in a haphazard manner. I’m not sure how anyone whose main task is to write would consider these mistakes to be unimportant. And without getting into a whole cultural debate, I think that it is sad that so many people don’t care.
Jul 15th, 2007
Jarred
It’s really as simple as this. Anyone who bitches about typos are massive hypocrites because everyone does it. I also agree with the earlier commenter that some people just like to act as if they’re superior .
People just like to find excuses to bitch. That’s all this is. And you’re right, the comic does say it all.
Jul 15th, 2007
jason
I agree with you Jarred. Bitching about typos is pointless and stupid, which is why I don’t do it. Unfortunately, some people just can’t help themselves.
But this entire topic is about typos, misspellings, etc. And I still think that if people bitching about mistakes is such the nuisance that everyone claims it is, then why not take the time to correct those mistakes in the first place before posting.
That eliminates the problem, does it not?
Jul 15th, 2007
Naught
LOL Shane! Yu liek LOLcats, yu siuld chek oot LOLHoff. And yez, spelchek eez for wiemps.
Jul 16th, 2007
Kevin
Okay. These comments were interesting reads.
I just want to point out something for some people just to make sure no one is being a hypocrite. If you are not bothered or easily distracted by goofs/factual errors/minor editting gaffs/accents/what have you throughout the viewing of the movie and thusly can just watch a movie because you follow its topic, then I say you have every right to say it is okay to have typos or grammatical errors or misspellings in something that you may write.
But if you are, then don’t tell me that you don’t care about how well a paragraph is typed up.
My point is that people differ. There are those that are easily distracted by errors in the written form just as there are those easily distracted by errors or goofs in the visual form. Doesn’t make them any worst or better than anyone else. If someone does make a point that a misspelling as occured, I believe one should take it in stride. One can then say - yes, I am sorry I mistyped that (or even be HONEST if one dares and say they did not know how to spell the word) and I will try better next time, but let us get back to the topic at hand.
I, myself, have a pet peeve with the misuse of their and there and they’re. These ARE NOT typos. These are blatant and I do lose a little respect for the person who misuses them. But not a lot. Despite the errors that have shown up on The Movie Blog, I come back and read it all the time because the author is great and I value his opinions because his thoughts and concerns over matters more than outweighs his typing ability.
Okay. I’ve written too much as it is! LOL
Jul 16th, 2007
Donna
Just to point out many people from all over the world read what is said here. Some with a limited understanding of writing proper English. Just because they don’t write 100% perfect should no way reflect on the person or the opinions they may or may not have the Educational English background that you may have so who are we to say there ideas and opinions mean nothing. Also there are people with disabilities who read and write things are there values less important? I think not. I am one of those people with a disability. Several years ago I had a stroke. I have worked hard to get to this point in my life to be even able to type knitpicking on grammer etc. does nothing and is not productive to what the topic is. Anyway I love that comic it is awesome.
Aug 7th, 2007
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