If you think that your readers don’t care if you can’t spell, think again. Here’s a little evidence from Yahoo! News‘ “Power Players” that suggests that they do notice your mistakes. And they do judge.
The first and possibly most egregious error on this “article” involves walking under a latter and hugging a black cat:
If you’re as challenged with language as this writer, let me enlighten you both: Walking under a ladder is considered bad luck. Hugging a cat is just showing a fondness for a feline. But if a black cat crosses your path, well, that’s considered bad luck.
Rick Santorum attended the White House Correspondents‘ Dinner, where the starstruck ex-senator snapped a photo of Lindsay Lohan:
The writer can’t spell starstruck without a space and can’t spell health care with one:
And this is just a really dumb typo:
In case you share the opinion of Yahoo!’s management that readers don’t care about such trivialities as spelling, here’s a small sample of the comments left by readers:
How does an illiterate get to write for the public? Start a blog. Maybe this person should learn the English language before they start talking about a man who has served this country well for many years.
Has anybody seen the movie Idiocracy?? That’s exactly what our society is turning into. This is a front page story – A latter??? John Berman, PLEASE proofread your stories. Or at least run it by an editor.
… it is sad when an article is so poorly written that it could be corrected by a 3rd grader.
The individual who wrote this needs to get fired. 😦
[T]hese writers need brain check. but that only works if you have one.
[Y]ahoo news is trustworthy…NOT
If they can’t even check their spelling, do you think they actually check their facts?
How do you walk under a “latter”? Who hires these dumbazzez?
This is what you get when you have foreigners writing American articles. I have to say article because it is not news.
Terribly Write 