Spell checking should be an automatic task in all our business writing. I don’t mean simply using the built-in spell checkers in software applications. I mean we should be constantly working at improving our own spelling skills.

Of course, many of us have the painful memories of school spelling quizzes and spelling bees. It is difficult to get back into the habit of learning new words.

Here are two books which I just acquired for my reference shelf, by one of my favorite authors, Bill Bryson. His writing style is crisp and he brings his fine sense of humor to the task. Not only does he give the correct spellings, he includes the most frequent misspellings and incorrect usages.

With these two enjoyable books, sprucing up your vocabulary can be fun instead of a drudgery.

• Bryson’s Dictionary of Troublesome Words: A Writer’s Guide to Getting It Right
• Bryson’s Dictionary for Writers and Editors

Steve Lange
Senior Editor
Palo Alto Software

Tags: business writing, spell check, spellcheck, spelling
Posted on July 21st, 2008 | No Comments »

This article titled Lolcat site hiring; spelling skillz optional appeared in Yahoo! News today.

“I can haz dream Job? My rezumez! let me showz u thm”
That’s the subject line of a cover letter sent by a job applicant to I Can Has Cheezburger, one of the premier sites for so-called Lolcat pictures.

“I got a stack of résumés that I can’t even go through,” said Ben Huh, founder of the site. “You know how they say, ‘Spell everything correctly because the people reading your résumé will toss it out otherwise?’ Well, we can’t even do that. We won’t knock you out for spelling…. The traditional résumé screening methods don’t apply here.”

This intentional devolution of language makes an old curmudgeon editor such as myself just cringe.

Now, I get a chuckle out of these photos and captions too, but you have to know how to spell correctly in order to get the most humor benefit from the misspelling.

To say that it is acceptable to have just a little misspelling on your résumé, or your business plan, is like Homer Simpson sitting at the nuclear power plant controls saying “Don’t worry. It’s OK. The needle is just a little bit into the red zone. Now, where are those donuts?”

Use your spell checker. Proofread your work, or all of your efforts could blow up.

Steve Lange
Senior Editor
Palo Alto Software

Tags: business plan, misspelling, resume, spell check, spelling
Posted on April 24th, 2008 | No Comments »