I am a terrible speller. I always have been. Spelling is not my thing.
Grammar. My brain works faster than my fingers can type or hands can write. I omit words. I swap out words. I use the wrong spelling of a word that sounds the same but has a different spelling, you know, those homophones. It's not that I don't know how to use their/they're/there correctly. I do. I promise, I do. It's just that my brain is going 90 and my fingers are going 30.
Yes, I reread everything I post on Facebook, Twitter, here on my blog or anywhere. Yes, I still miss my mistakes.
When I reread my own words, I read it the way I want it to read not the actual way I typed or wrote it. It helps if I read my writing word by word with pauses in between but Oh. My. Word. that takes a long time and I don't alway have enough time to do that... or I just get bored doing it.
It also helps it I change the background color. So if I can, I'll highlight what I've written and edited it that way. Or here on my blog I'll switch to Preview and that helps.
I say all this to say I'm 39 years old. I've been making writing mistakes since I started writing. My mistakes don't bother me. Why should they bother you? I have a master's degree. I'm an intelligent person. But words aren't my thing. And I'm ok with that.
So please, please, pretty please with a cherry on top don't point our my mistakes on social media. Don't call me out in front of everyone. Don't be the grammar police. If it truly bothers you, private message me or text me if you have my number.
I had three corrections done last week, two by the same person. It really got on my nerves. After the second correction by the same person I went to send a text to that person but thought better of it and sent it to my girlfriends for approval. They said it sounded ok but it would better for me to talk to the person in person. I knew that of course, but I needed to hear them say it. By the time I saw the person I had calmed down by then and didn't say anything. If I do get a chance to talk to this person I am going to say something but I'll be able to joke about it (while getting my point across) instead of being ugly and hurting their feelings.
I've never quite understood why people feel the need to point out other people's mistakes. Does it make them feel better about themselves? Do they think the other person wants to be corrected? Do they get a thrill from it? Or maybe they just think their doing the person a favor.
I don't know.
Whatever the reason, stop doing it to me. I don't like.
If you don't speak "Linsey" then maybe it's time to unfriend me, unfollow me, or whatever. Because I make a lot of mistakes.
I am fortunate enough to be an excellent speller and grammarian. That said, I have always considered social media to be a first draft and never correct people. I have also learned that adults are not children and shouldn't be treated as such when it comes to composition. Sometimes it is better to be a good friend than a good grammarian. I am in my early 50's and, overtime, my pinky reach has decreased so now, I find it hard to hit the apostrophe key. This gives me "don;t" and "wasn;t" instead of "don't" and "wasn't".
ReplyDeleteI am an editor as well as an English teacher, so I've had to learn the balance of the Force and only correct people who I'm either paid to correct or close friends and family who actually love it.
ReplyDeleteI would annoyed too! I always tell my students that there is a time and place to make spelling and grammar corrections. Calling people out in person or on social media is rude and demeaning. No one is perfect and even the best speller/grammarian make a mistake when they're writing!
ReplyDeleteThis is so me.
ReplyDelete"I am a terrible speller. I always have been. Spelling is not my thing." Then I read on. I suspect you might be my secret twin, except that I am 63 instead of 39.
It's comforting to know I have a twin out there! :)
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