JJs

amen!
And newspaper typists do not ALWAYS correct spelling and/or grammar - some papers "let it go".... sometimes the want ads can be hysterically funny - have you ever watched "Headlines" on the Jay Leno show? Perfect examples.
I was a proof reader at a newspaper lo these many years ago and errors leap out at me. Whichever teacher(s) told you that "spelling doesn't count, and isn't important" were not living in the real world.

Pam

Who is to say that the data entry personnel weren't the ones making the mistakes? My 16 year old daughter worked for the paper doing just that and made many a good letter writer look like a fool since she took it upon herself to "edit".

littlehud

That's a great letter so far. Keep it up.

carrieg

Also check the requirements for your paper. One local paper has a word limit on letters to the editor, but the paper in my small town I live in now has no word limit.

Flying_V_Goddess

Already ahead of you. One paper is 500 and the other is 600. If I remember correctly, I have 364 words...roughly. So I'm in the clear so far.

Flying_V_Goddess

I know you guys mean well. I really do! Its just... its kind of annoying when I'm asking "Hey, I'm really trying to motivate gardeners...how am I doing with that?" and a lot of the feedback I'm getting is "*this word*...it should be spelled like *this*". Okay, so my spelling sucks sometimes or I type to darn fast and forget a letter or two. I get that. But that doesn't really tell me what I want to know. Am I making any sense on this? Its not anything against any of you or your spell checks, but I feel like you're missing the point entirely.

So how 'bout we call off the grammer Nazi's for now and actually read the letter, misspellings and all. lol. Correct spelling isn't going to do me a whole lot of good if I'm not captivating and motivating people to help out others who need it. Worry about the grammer after I'm getting my point across. Agreed? :)

Seanette

V, bottom line you need to recognize is that the spelling and typing problems lost a lot of readers right away. I read the original post three times, and could not tell you more than the vaguest notion of what you were saying because the spelling and typing errors that went uncorrected drowned out the actual content and convinced me you didn't really care about that content if you weren't willing to go to the trouble of such a basic operation as spell-checking.

If you want your reader's time and effort, have enough respect for your audience to do such basic things to eliminate that distraction. Otherwise, you're conveying the message that you're just SO special you don't have to be bothered with clear communication and your reader owes it to your wonderful intentions to struggle through mistake after mistake. Hard to see those good intentions when the mistakes are shouting "I couldn't be bothered".

Another point (which my mother makes in connection with poorly written restaurant menus), if you're not willing to make the effort to get the spelling right, what other details are being skipped, skimmed over, or ignored? In the case of a poorly written letter to the editor, the mistakes give the reader the impression the writer is paying so little attention that factual accuracy is probably suffering too. With restaurants, as my mother puts it, "if they can't get the menu right, what are they doing to the food?"

JJs

So how 'bout I totally disregard any further postings because THIS is really offensive - being called ANY kind of Nazi.

Nothing said can negate that kind of insult - no matter how it is meant.

Flying_V_Goddess

I'm really sorry. I meant it as a joke and it just came out wrong. I didn't mean to offend anyone. :(

I'm just a little frustrated because everyone seems to want to point out all the grammer flaws than take the actual message seriously. And this is AFTER I went back and put it through spell check to try and please everyone and people are still pointing out mistakes. It seems like we're all getting a bit off track, you know.

JJs

Everybody totally 'gets' the point of your message - they are just trying to make it easier for YOU to get YOUR point across by making sure the writing is coherent, the spelling is correct, the grammar is correct and the whole thing makes sense.
If you want people (meaning the public you are writing to) to also get your message, make the message easy to read, easy to understand, and not irritating with numerous errors of any kind.
And you need to understand that there quite a few of us old fogies on this board - people who if they didn't live through World War II, had parents, uncles, aunts, or other family members who lived through it, fought in it or died because of it - and calling someone a "Nazi" is not considered any kind of joke. I'm sure the youngsters of today don't think a thing of it and when this generation is gone and the "greatest generation" is gone, then maybe that will be a joke - right now, it isn't.