Spelling mistakes - stupidity? Or just moving too fast?
By vivasuzi
@vivasuzi (4127)
United States
April 5, 2010 10:23pm CST
Imagine you read an article, or a mylot, or anything, and it has 1 or 2 spelling mistakes but overall is decent. Do you instantly think "wow this person is so stupid to have spelled such an easy word wrong!" OR do you think "wow this person is probably just typing fast and made a few minor mistakes"
I think the second. If the article or discussion post is overall good, I give the person the benefit of the doubt that they DO know how to spell simple words but they are typing so fast that they made a few mistakes.
The reason I bring this up is because I wrote a 5 page live blog while watching a tv show today. I made 2-3 minor mistakes and a person really commented rudely saying I had "abysmal" spelling and pointing out because she found 2 words wrong. She said I should have learned those words in Junior High and it was overall a rude comment.
I deleted the comment rather than defending myself. What I would have said in my defense was that I was typing LIVE and trying to post updates at each commercial. So Yes I made a few mistakes. Funny thing is, I could only find 1 of the 2 mistakes she said I made. The other doesn't seem to exist (I think she made it up).
So basically this person ignored the fact that 5 pages of my article had no mistakes (I have spell check on at all times on Google Chrome), but acted like I was an idiot for making a few mistakes. I know in the internet world we are all moving fast and a lot of us don't even care if we spell a word wrong here or there. With so much to type and so little time, I think I did pretty good.
So do you judge someone if they spell an easy word wrong (assuming everything else they wrote is clean) or do you give people the benefit of the doubt? If you used to judge people, maybe you should start learning to give them a break - after all - it is just the internet. And after all - I was just writing about a TV show :-D
3 people like this
17 responses
@vivasuzi (4127)
• United States
6 Apr 10
Yep tired is a good reason, also I wear contacts so sometimes they are blurry and makes it so I don't care what I'm typing. I have been known to close my eyes when I type sometimes if my contacts are dry but I still type pretty decent even with my eyes closed :-D
1 person likes this
@abitcurious (1422)
• Philippines
6 Apr 10
I really don't judge people because they make spelling mistakes whether they are accidental or not. I just believe that a lot of people, especially non-native English speakers are already putting too much effort in communicating in an alien language that they deserve to be heard--with or without the grammatical errors.
For some serious writers though, everything is about having right grammar. Since they do get hired because of this skill, they really have to be more careful.
Personally, I appreciate blogs that show the writer's character. I don't care much for spelling errors. People can be so judgmental sometimes. But well you cant't please them all.
3 people like this
@vivasuzi (4127)
• United States
6 Apr 10
I agree, everyone deserves to be heard. If someone is sharing an intelligent and thoughtful opinion, who cares if they say "your" instead of "you're" (for example). Some people get way too mad about these type of things.
Although it's easier to tell if someone is a non-native speaker, b/c you often have to translate half of what they wrote, but in those cases you know it's not their first language and therefore I don't judge them for that.
I understand serious journalist need to write perfect, but I am blogging about TV shows in my spare time :) It's not a job, I do it for hits only (measly 5$ at most when all is said and done), and I do it for fun!
Yep cannot please them all. Thanks for the positive thoughts :)
1 person likes this
@royal52gens (5488)
• United States
6 Apr 10
I don't get fussed over a few minor typos. But if the article is hard to read because of the typos, then I get fussed. They might be discussing a topic of great interest to me but the writer will lose my attention if it is hard to decipher.
1 person likes this
@anurag3786 (6267)
• India
6 Apr 10
Sometimes by mistake i also make some spellings mistake.. because i try to typing fast.. and by doing this i press some wrong keys.. so this mistake are happen.. but now i am trying to remove my this type of mistake.. and very soon i get control on my typing speed.. have a nice day and keep mylotting always..
2 people like this
@Eppie2010 (509)
• Philippines
6 Apr 10
I also think the second - that maybe the person was just typing too fast. Who am I to judge anyone as stupid just because of a misspelled word? Sometimes we can't really avoid these type of people with "superiority complex", that they would go out of their way to point out other people's mistake so that they may look wiser. Well, for me i feel that they are just looking for attention and I will definitely not give mine. Good move in just deleting the rude comment! ^_^
2 people like this
@vivasuzi (4127)
• United States
6 Apr 10
Superiority complex is right! The second I saw her use the word "abysmal" I knew she was someone who thought she was the queen of spelling.
Sure I learned things in Junior High, but do you remember everything from Junior High? Or maybe I just don't care if a few mistakes slip through as long as I get my point across :) No need to be rude.
She got no attention from me - just a DELETE :) Oh, and she were anonymous - wimp!
1 person likes this
@sudiptacallingu (10879)
• India
6 Apr 10
First of all, I pay no attention to spelling mistakes of others and never judge them by it coz I believe that nobody is perfect and English is not a mother tongue to many people. Even people whose mother tongue is English, make a lot of mistakes as I’ve noted here in mylot. And then there are so many grammatical errors too that if I set to sift thru the discussions based on mistakes, I’d probably have only a handful to reply to LOL! Ignoring rude comments on spellings and grammar is the best thing…you’ve done the right thing.
1 person likes this
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
6 Apr 10
Spelling mistakes are just being human. Even the most observant person who combs over their posting will have them from time to time. There is no need to nitpick over something being misspelled on the Internet but I guess everyone needs a hobby. Still, be thankful that the most is legible. There are a lot of things on the Internet that makes you wish for that post with a handful of misspellings. Things that make it look like a drunken monkey was just randomly throwing his own waste at a keyboard, if you pardon the vivid imagine.
Still there are a lot of people who nitpick on the Internet at the slightest mistakes. I do find one thing funny. I have noticed that there are many times where a person who nitpicks the spelling of another, will normally have a misspelling of their own in that post. Not always of course, but a lot of the time and I find that a bit funny. That is some delicious irony at work.
1 person likes this
@lipstick2009 (1236)
• Philippines
6 Apr 10
I really don't think that it is stupidity to misspell words.
You're right, maybe writing was done in a hurry and that the person didn't review what he just wrote and just hit the send button.Believe me, i'm guilty of this too.
Most especially here at myLot.Although i try to review what i just wrote but its just that sometimes i miss some words too. And i only discover the typo when its too late to edit .
(^_^)
@joebrpt84 (85)
• Malaysia
7 Apr 10
I do feel the same as you are. In fact I don't quite understand some people who just want to find out other people mistakes and make such a big point out of it. Even the real problem is a minor one. You are giving her something to read, I assume she read the whole 5 pages and from the whole thing she could only find your mistakes?? what a person... I think that when people give us something or when people try to make something decent we should evaluate it from the positive side.. always have a good impression for others..
@irent23 (148)
• Dubai, United Arab Emirates
6 Apr 10
Well, sometimes I do laughed at it whenever I encountered lots of error in writing a word. But the fact that they have errors I reflect it to myself that I do have errors too. I guess they just accidentally misspelled that word probably because of their typing ability, as to what you have said they are typing so fast that they didn't notice that they misspelled the word. Lesson to that, we should review everything that we are writing so that we can correct the misspelled words. The second one, don't judge them for you can also commit mistakes on your own that you can't notice but somebody do notice it...good noon my friend!^_^
1 person likes this
@abirsinha (114)
• India
6 Apr 10
I type real fast and often spell incorrectly. This does not mean I am bad in English. People often type incorrectly while typing fast as they do not look at the screen instead they just put their heads down to look at the keyboard and press the keys faster. Even if you type wrong you do not recognize your mistakes. If the blog has an online spelling checker then it helps to point out your mistakes but normally it is very difficult to find out an error from the sea of alphabets.
So for me its the second option- Just Moving fast.
Have a great day!!
1 person likes this
@abbeyr212 (30)
• United States
7 Apr 10
One or two typo's are acceptable with an overall good post or paper. It usually does amount to going too fast.
The people that I tend to judge are the ones that can't make a coherent sentence. Everything is spelled wrong. The structure is all screwed up, or the sentence doesn't make sense at all. It drives me insane. And there are A LOT of them on MyLot. I find that, instead of responding to them, I just want to correct them. I refrain, of course, but it stills makes me crazy.
Some people I don't bother to respond to out of simple disgust.
But back to your question, no. I wouldn't think you're an idiot for a couple of mistakes. Everyone does it. No one is perfect.
Just ignore that person. She obviously has nothing better to do with her time then criticize others. We should all feel sorry for her empty life.
@myliezl0903 (2726)
• Philippines
6 Apr 10
Hi there!
Thanks for sharing this vivasuzi! I was so impressed when i saw your post here in mylot ., and i don't think it is right for a person to judge someone that they are stupid because of the wrong spelling or something. you are right that we should give them the benefit of the doubt about it that maybe they are in a hurry while doing a blog or typing really fast make you sometimes a bit confused if you got the spelling correctly. for me it doesn't matter ., cause the average person i believe can read everything even if you made the spelling incorrect. but of course it would be better if we made it right! ., 
but of course it would be better if we made it right! ., 
@cupkitties (7421)
• United States
7 Apr 10
I never assume anyone is stupid for that. I mean its so easy to make mistakes typing and there are some brilliant minded people like one of my friends he's a song writer and I think he's a genius but poor fella can't spell for anything. But there are people who know the correct way to spell something and yet they will intentionally do it incorrectly because they "feel like it". Now, that's just dumb.
@nijolechu (1842)
• Canada
7 Apr 10
I do give people a break when they are trying to type stuff. There are times where I am typing so fast and making some spelling and grammar mistakes. Some people make really thoughtful responses and discussions with a few spelling mistakes. So I wouldn't let a few spelling errors ruin it for me.
