The Importance of Spellchecking
I don’t know if it’s just me, but when reading online forums and other websites, it seems like people these days are notoriously bad when it comes to spelling and making grammatical errors. These problems are also very common when listening to people speak in person, on TV or on the radio, whether they’re hosting a show or talking during a commercial.
Between using words incorrectly, not spelling words correctly, or doing the common preposition stranding at the end of a sentence, a lot of people are just plain dumb when it comes to speaking and writing today!
Take this advertisement flyer that I received the other day.
The advertisement is for D.A.S. Contracting, Inc. out of Acworth, Georgia.
The layout of the flyer looks nice and professional, but I counted three (possibly four – explained below) spelling & grammar errors!
THREE ERRORS!
First, there is no such word as “remoldeling.” This company most likely meant to use “remodeling.”
Second, the next two errors occurred on the line “No Job To Small or To Big.”
As we all should know, the word “to” can be used as “to,” “two” or even “too,” depending how it is used in the sentence. Other commonly misused words include:
- there, they’re and their
- it’s and its
- you’re and your
- “a lot” and allot
It’s actually scary how many teenagers and adults frequently use the wrong versions of those words. Shooting pain goes through my head whenever I go to forums or see people commenting on articles, and they can’t type any better than a five-year-old. These are basic words that most people should have mastered before leaving middle school, let alone high school or even college.
Don’t even get me started on people using “text talk” or whatever the hell they call it.
Nonetheless, this advertisement still failed to use the correct version. It should have been written, “No Job Too Small or Too Big.”
And third, a possible error was in the sentence, “Your Original Towne Lake Remolder Since 1992″.
Now “remolder” is a real word. It’s a verb meaning to cast again or shape differently.
Is this technically an error? No. Builders and contractors can reshape parts of a building to better suit the owners. Was this the best word to describe the company? Probably not. “Remold” is not a common word in today’s society, whereas “remodeler” would have been a much better choice.
This could be an example of using local lingo.
For example, saying “remold” could be a Southern way of talking about remodeling. My high school drafting teacher (from the great state of Mississippi, and his accent proved it) referred to all computer printers as plotters. Is it technically wrong? No, but it is peculiar when most people simply call computer printers, “printers.” We had both plotters and printers in the classroom, but according to him, they were all known as “plotters.”
In the case of this advertisement flyer and “remolder” versus “remodeler,” a simple test is doing the Google check. Put each of those words in the search engine and check the results. See which version is more common with pulling up real websites and stick with that. It isn’t always perfect, but it can definitely help if you’re trying to spell a word or phrase, or if you’re looking for a different term to describe something.
In the meantime, how is it possible for a company to allow such a poorly written flyer to not only be published, but also circulated throughout the northern metro Atlanta area?
How is it that a company that prides itself on its quality manage to release an advertising flyer that A) obviously has not been proofread, or B) it has been proofread and whomever did so is as dumb as dirt?
If the company cannot even get their advertising flyer correct, how dedicated are they when it comes to working or “remoldeling” your home?
For all we know, this may actually be a great company with a long history of success. According to the flyer, they’ve been in the home improvement business since 1989 and servicing the local area since 1992. Then again, it is difficult to check on a company that has been around for twenty years when they don’t even have a company website.