I have been trying to avoid writing this piece for fear that I will sound like a grumpy old lady which, by the way, I am not (though that may be hard for some people to believe). Even as I hear myself discuss this issue I remind myself of my high school English teacher, who was a miserable little thing in case you were wondering, yet I still feel compelled to introduce the topic.
It has become the norm to read publications online, even the most reputable of publications, and find numerous spelling and grammatical errors. This drives me insane. We are living in a digital era and that is wonderful but the standards do not change from print to online media. It has become so acceptable in today's world that it is going on across the board from media to advertising to just about everything. When I get a product from a reliable vendor, who shall remain nameless, and there is a spelling error on the label, that is the last straw! Perhaps it is because we have gotten used to cramming everything into 140 characters or less. Maybe it is just plain laziness. Whatever the cause, is this who and what we want to become? Do we want the next generation growing up thinking, "you" is really spelled "u" simply because it has less characters and is a millisecond faster to type?
When this becomes so standard that Jimmy Fallon even does a clip on the Tonight Show called, "Screen Grabs" highlighting the latest faux pas, it may be time to start thinking about what we are putting out into the world. Don't get me wrong, it is hysterical on the Tonight Show but humiliating as a society.
Please don't misunderstand me -- I know how incredibly far I am from perfect! Isn't that why spellcheck was invented? How about good, old-fashioned proofreading? Again, I am not proud of this rant but I do feel it needed to be said. If you are attaching your name to something, particularly online where it will stay forever, is this really how you want to be represented?