Online spelling errors are irritating but easily fixed. A mistake on a sign is more expensive and more permanent. Here are three examples — all within a five-minute walk of each other — that show why it’s important to develop the habit of attention to detail whenever you write anything.
I noted all these instances in Newtown, inner-city Sydney’s hipster capital, during a visit over the weekend. First up we have this end-of-aisle display in the local Foodworks supermarket:
As we’ve noted before, there’s a big difference between stationery and stationary.
A little further along, we discover a novel spelling for a day of the week:
And elsewhere, we have a restaurant which has an unusual take on the spellings of both “steak” and “gluten”, and also falls for the wrong spelling of complimentary:
Definitely one to fix the next time the menu gets reprinted.
Mistakes happen — but we need to strive to identify them and fix them. Accuracy matters.
Lifehacker’s Mind Your Language column offers bossy advice on improving your writing.
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