If you spell corect with one "r" is it still correct?
I came across this the other day, or rather it came to me as I have not heard it stated anywhere else, and it actually made me laugh out loud which is always a pleasant experience even if you do have to explain yourself to your fellow cubicle dwellers. I didn't care though because I found it funny.
It has been on my mind quite a bit since though. Did you know what I meant when you read it through the first time? Chances are you did. I have seen an e-mail that was going around some time ago that rearranged all the letters inside the words and only had the first and last letters in the correct position, yet somehow it was still readable and the message was conveyed. How does that work?
Anyone that spends much time on computers and uses e-mail will notice the significant disregard for spelling and grammar and etiquette. I have on many occasions found myself wanting in these areas at times. In the heat of trying to get down a thought some things get left out or overlooked. And in this day of word processors trying to correct our every fault on the fly we can sometimes put too much reliance on the technology that enables us to communicate so freely to capture our flaws before they are so grandly exposed to the viewing public. Sometimes it is that technology that creates the biggest flaws of all. (No matter how I try my computer still doesn't get me.) It is all a matter of who is editing who I suppose.
So how critical are you when you come across a written error?
I know it can be irritating as the eye seems to freeze frame on the mistake arresting your rhythm and flow as it takes a moment away from your efforts to devour the text but is it really such a big deal? Aren't we all just making a best effort at creating communication between people? If communication is the interchange of thoughts feelings and ideas, and those thoughts feelings and ideas have been properly understood by the recipient, then hasn't communication happened?
This is not to say that correction is never needed. Correction is what makes us better and in order for correction to happen sometimes notifications of error are required. By all means let me know where I stray that I might make amends and return to the preferred path but do so as a friend would that the friendship might continue to flourish. It is better that way don't you think?
There are so many times I have come across comments that seem harsh and out of place for the topics at hand. Attacking someones character and person due to a nit picky flaw is uncalled for and unjustified yet I am amazed at how often it happens, many times without rhyme or reason. I can understand it (but do not condone it) as an emotional response to a heated topic but it seems all too frequent during other times as well and that reflects back more pointedly on the attacker than on the attacked.
As we are all at different levels of skill, education, experience, knowledge and wisdom we need to take into account that there are some that are higher and some that are lower and some that are at the same level in whatever we do and whomever we are.
If we get caught up in the absolutes and the minutia of detail we do so at the risk of missing the point completely or at the very least wasting a lot of time and energy on things that really don't matter and thereby losing focus on what does.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
