Everyone makes spelling mistakes online, and they’re relatively easy to correct. Mistakes on printed signs are a more permanent source of embarrassment, as the above example demonstrates.
Yes, when I look at this sign, I think about eating a chicken schnitzel burger. But I also want to take to the sign with a red marker and make corrections, and there’s a part of me thinking: “If they don’t care enough to spell the name of their products correctly, do they care enough about hygiene?”
And then I think: “I bet they can’t spell hygiene either.” Because, as we never tire of pointing out at Mind Your Language, if you take the attitude that sloppy spelling doesn’t matter in some contexts, you soon find yourself in a state of permanent sloppiness. Accuracy matters. Now I’m off to find a burger.
Lifehacker’s Mind Your Language column offers bossy advice on improving your writing.
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