Poor spelling leads to prison term

This blog frequently focuses on ways to improve writing and communication skills. You may ask yourself, “Why should I care?” While it is true that making a mistake is not the end of the world, not caring about it is self-sabotaging and destructive.

It is all too easy for anyone to accidentally type “your” when they mean “you’re.” Run-on sentences are found in all sorts of text. Nearly everyone is guilty of a misplaced modifier every now and then. It is the consistent and flagrant disregard for the rules of grammar, spelling, and punctuation that will chip away at our reputation.

People judge and make decisions based on those judgments.

 We scrutinize appearance, speech, action, and the written word, especially in a professional context. No one is immune. If you think the way we communicate doesn’t matter, just look at the schoolteacher-like rage that has rained down on these recent errors.

Poor spelling can send you to prison

 No kidding. In 2000, Brian Regan, a U.S. government contractor smuggled thousands of classified documents out of The National Reconnaissance Office in Northern Virginia and buried them in the woods. Luckily (for national security), some packages were found and they contained numerous spelling errors. FBI agents began searching for someone with both access and bad spelling. Regan’s emails and internal reports were riddled with misspellings – enough to make it easy for the FBI to connect the dots. Regan is now serving a life sentence.

So, why should I care?

The message sloppy communication sends is this: "If you don’t care enough to take care of the little stuff, the things that are so easily done right or corrected, then you don’t care about my account or the big stuff. Sloppiness will carry over into other areas of business." So save yourself some embarrassment, a client, and possibly some jail time, and take a second look at your work.

Do you need a little help putting your best foot forward? Drop me a line.

askmaggie@takemaggieswordforit.com