Errors Are a Sign of Worse Habits
As has happened every year but once in my memories, I went to the Oklahoma State Fair this week and had the opportunity to check out the JFK exhibit. Almost immediately I recognized a glaring mistake in the text of a poster talking about President John F. Kennedy’s commitment to putting a man on the moon. The poster had a first reference to Edwin “Buzz” Aldri rather than his actual last name of Aldrin. It stood out like a sore thumb, especially with the second reference just a couple of lines below it.
Seeing this served as a reminder that the world seems to be more and more content with not being concerned with paying attention to being correct. One of the skills Jupiter Promotions brings to any project is our ability to avoid grammatical and spelling errors, but I am constantly reminded that the world doesn’t seem to share this skill. Or at least there seems to be an indifference to it.
I’m not sure if it is tied to the use of social media as a primary way of communicating or if we have just raised a new generation of dumber people who don’t understand the importance of accuracy when it comes to words.
Sure, some might want to stand back and laugh while accusing me of being a grammar Nazi, but poor editing is often reflective of a much deeper nature of laziness that will probably surface on so many other levels. Pretty much what I am saying is that people who do a poor job of editing words and grammar are probably not going to be someone you can count on in other areas.
Don’t be fooled – the JFK exhibit misspelling may not be something that a lot of people would notice or even care about. But to me it was reflective of more than that. And that is likely to be the case with other areas. Typically when I read articles from media outlets that consistently have poor grammar or spelling, that organization tends to lose support over time. If they are overlooking easily correctible aspects of the workload, then what is happening to the tasks that actually require real work?
Even in this world we live in, the cream tends to rise to the top and I still believe in accuracy when it comes to writing will win out. And if it doesn’t, do any of us really want to live in that world?
