Do Typos Matter?

Unsurprisingly, I am a member of an editing group on the business website, LinkedIn. Now, being a member of a group made up of people who are paid to scrutinise your written words can make one slightly hesitant to participate in a written conversation, but there arose a topic that piqued my interest.

The topic was:

Typos: Do they (always) matter?

Now, as a Word Nerd, the easiest answer is of course, ‘yes’. However, I find that despite my high regard for perfectly executed spelling, punctuation and grammar, there still exists circumstances where I myself relinquish a little refinement in these areas.

Facebook, anyone?

Naturally, published works should be of the highest quality, as something as simple as a typo in a scientific report can easily obliterate credibility. Present something that has one single mistake amongst hundreds of mistake-free pages and you can guarantee that one mistake is going to be picked up by almost every single reader.

Now, a mistake in a printed work of fiction is more of an embarrassment than a problem, but if someone overlooks an error in a scientific report, it may erase any good work the findings of that report may have produced. In these circumstances, I believe that the errors should be made apparent to the author(s) so that the problem can be rectified. Chances are, they would be mortified to learn of their mistake. In these cases, I think pointing out the error is kind of the whole point of proofreading and editing services.

Social media, on the other hand, is riddled with errors and, despite these errors causing little (if any) harm, the authors are constantly persecuted for them. I am not innocent – terrible spelling and grammar is one of my pet hates so if I see blatant disregard for the English language I find it hard to hold my tongue. Yet even still, I seem to have subconsciously developed an idea of what needs to be corrected, and what I am willing to overlook.

If I see an error made by someone belittling someone else, you can bet on me correcting them. Two of the things I hate most in the world: people who think they are better than others, and typos.

If you make a mistake that I think you would not like to be public, I will let you know. I expect this from others, and owe plenty of my developing skill to people correcting my own mistakes. This is how we learn. I value these corrections because I value knowledge, and I enjoy being able to pass on what I can.

Every now and then, when I’ve been inundated with a constant stream of errors, I snap and have to correct something. This is me venting my frustration at the sorry state the English language is in these days. It is me making a statement: I went to school. I learned. I am proud of my knowledge.

I suppose my greatest frustration is that, when corrected, people often get defensive. Understandable, since most of the time when people are correcting others it is to make themselves feel good. However it makes me sad that people would rather exchange profanities than seek to rectify the issue. Perhaps it’s because the art of words comes almost naturally to me, but I don’t think it is so hard to learn. I wish people would embrace the opportunity to cast aside their ignorance.

If you spell my name wrong when I’ve seen you write it correctly a thousand times or more, I’m not worried. Typos happen; I’m not concerned if you have the knowledge but auto-correct doesn’t.

If you use ‘to’ instead of ‘too’, it’s going to bug me but I’ll usually let it slide. If I value our friendship, I will rarely correct insignificant mistakes that don’t confuse what you’re trying to say. Most of the time, if I’m irritated enough to make a correction, I’m hoping you’ll forgive me since you understand it’s become part of my identity. But I do try to hold back, I promise!

Finally, if you use incorrect spelling in order to create a pun, you will most likely get a virtual high five. Puns are my absolute favourite kind of humour. These are not errors. They are language’s gift to the world.

In the long run, my opinion is that typos DO matter. They represent who we are. They are not always a bad thing, and everyone makes mistakes so it is not necessarily disrespectful to correct them. It’s not wrong to correct insignificant errors, as this promotes learning, yet caution should be taken so that the person making the mistake does not feel belittled or humiliated by your manner of correction. If you make a lot of mistakes, don’t be too ashamed or stubborn to ask for help. Presenting your words in their best possible manifestation is like dressing your best for a job interview: the better they look, the more likely they are to be respected. If the words themselves are presented well, the meaning behind them gets a lot more attention.

This is why I do what I do. My aim is to help your words be the best they can possibly be.

And hey, if I’m correcting your Facebook posts, just remember – most people have to pay me for that.