“I don’t give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.” (Mark Twain)
Twain was right. Spelling’s not important — unless you want people (customers, clients, bosses) to take you seriously. It’s not that spelling is all that important. It’s just that spelling mistakes undermine your credibility.
As a copywriter and marketing consultant, I’ve seen plenty of evidence that typos and misspellings plant little seeds of doubt in the minds of customers. These doubts can torpedo your best efforts at persuading someone to trust you. And who can blame them? If you’re not careful enough to check your spelling, how careful will you be doing your work?
YourDictionary.com has posted a helpful list of the 100 most mispelled, er, missspelled, I mean misspelled words. (Thanks, Lifehack.)
PS: Want a tool like Word’s “AutoCorrect” that works in every application — even email subject lines, etc.? Check out ActiveWords. If you’re a lousy typist like me, you’ll absolutely love it!
(No, I’m not an affiliate — just a satisfied customer. I get nothing for the recommendation.)