The Marlowsphere Blog (#50)
I was watching CNBC the other morning when something in the lower third of the screen caught my eye. In addition to the name of the person being interviewed, they also identified his job status. He was identified as a “colimnist.” A “colimnist”? Really?
It’s doubtful CNBC—a leading global purveyor of cable television financial news and information—has hired a high school student to create its lower thirds billboards. But it has become increasingly evident over a period of years of viewing the network on a daily basis that spelling errors and grammatical mistakes have wormed their way into CNBC’s programming, especially on the morning shows. The cable network’s high standing, notwithstanding, it does not speak well of CNBC’s credibility when spelling errors and grammatical mistakes show up with increasing frequency. And it’s not just CNBC. Consistently, incorrect spelling or use of the wrong word crop up in lower thirds in other reputable news programs, including CNN and NBC. The Internet “news” is also riddled with misspellings in their headlines, such as the one recently on AOL that misspelled “Brazil” as “Brail.”
Perhaps it’s the speed with which the lower thirds and other kinds of graphic billboards are created given the demands of the rapid information flow. Perhaps it’s just a slip of the fingers on the keyboard. Regardless, good spelling is a reflection of the competency of the individual or the organization. For example, volumes have been written on the importance of good spelling in resumes and cover letters, whether delivered via snail-mail or electronically. So, if job applicants are required to spell well to get in the door, shouldn’t the organizations they want to work for do likewise?
There’s another reason why good spelling and grammar count: ever since the invention of the movable type printing press in the mid-15th century and the resultant creation of dictionaries, we now have “standards” by which literate people communicate with one another: the dictionary is the last word (no pun intended) regarding how a word should be spelled. If spelling standards are lowered and become accepted, then what future is in store for our news media?
As in job hunting, spelling and grammatical mistakes can be costly. For example, in “Oneida County, N.Y., 130,000 voter ballots were printed with President Barack Obama’s name spelled incorrectly. The ballots omitted the “c” from the president’s first name. This error cost the county over $75,000. According to the article ‘3 Costly Spelling Errors’ found at Ivestopeida.com the county executives discovered the error just a few business days before Election Day. They contacted the printer, but unfortunately the ballots were already printed. The printer was willing to reprint the ballots with the correct spelling, but the county would be responsible for paying.” As State Board of Elections spokesman Tom Connolly pointed out, “You can’t have the president’s name misspelled, it’s out of respect for the office.”
Another example in the article, “In 1962, Mariner 1 launched into space and thus began the story of the most expensive hyphen in history. The craft launched on July 22, 1962 and was the United States’ first attempt at an inter-planetary mission. During the ascent, Fortran code language had to be used for computations. A hyphen was missing in the code, which caused the Mariner 1’s destination to change. As a result, five minutes after launch the Range Safety Officer issued the destruct command on the approximate $80 million spacecraft. The spelling error ended up costing NASA millions from the failed mission.”
Our increasingly digital world may have put us in touch (potentially) with everyone on the planet with access to digital technology, but one careless mistake can cost you, such as the woman who mis-typed one digit on a bank transfer and irretrievably lost £26,000 ($42,000). And then there are the numerous errors purveyed by educational institutions. See the several examples in this blog below. If educational institutions cannot reach the bar, why should students?
The speed of email and texting has also blunted many people’s sense of good spelling. “You” has become “u,” for example. or everything is written in lower case. Or perhaps there’s no punctuation at all
Together proper spelling, punctuation and grammar do the job of conveying meaning and tone of the written message. Collectively they are the written equivalent to the audible voice of the message sender. Without it information can be easily misunderstood or misconstrued.
With respect to seeking employment or those who are employed, as I read the business communications literature, time and time again employers decry the lack of writing and speaking communications skills on the part of too many employees, prospective and otherwise. It seems ironic that in this day and age of communication at the speed of light that technical writing errors appear to have become more prevalent. Moreover, there is a direct relationship between good writing and good speaking. If you write well, you probably speak well, and vice versa. Why is this important? Because once again, as with job interviews, or news interviews, for that matter, first impressions and how you present yourself speaks volumes about you. Are you a credible source or a quack? Are you able to articulate your point intelligently and gain respect or will you sound like a bumbling idiot and be viewed as such?
Perhaps this all boils down to the issue of ownership. The words on a printed page have the feel and status of longevity and legitimacy. Words on an electronic page (such as in an email or a text message) have a short shelf life—unless, of course, they’re archived for future reference. Are our electronic media breeding a generation that can communicate at warp speed (compared to 30 years ago) and don’t feel the need to adhere to traditional rules or standards of good spelling and grammar? Are they saying to themselves “This writing isn’t going to last except for a few minutes or seconds, so why pay attention to good spelling or grammar?”
Further, with information going back and forth with great speed, how much ownership of the information does the communicator take responsiblity for? For example, when someone sends out a bullying message via email, text, or Facebook that causes another person to commit suicide (never mind the message’s spelling or grammar), to what extent does the “sender” feel ownership of the message? After all, it’s just words in electronic form. We own all sorts of electronic information and communication technologies, collectively and individually, but how often do we take full responsibility or ownership for the “momentary” electronic content we convey?
This is a larger question this “columnist” will tackle at a later date.
Please write to me at meiienterprises@aol.com if you have any comments on this or any other of my blogs.
Eugene Marlow, Ph.D.
February 18, 2013
©Eugene Marlow 2013