by Leonard Keigher

Created on: October 24, 2009   Last Updated: May 19, 2010

How important is spelling to the flow of good writing? It's one of the common errors, that writers routinely ignore, as well as one of the most solvable. Can you remember the last time you read a document filled with spelling errors? What was your reaction? Can you honestly say that you found the arguments presented, totally interesting or important? Were you stimulated to the point of action? Were the ideas coherent, the sentence structure tight, the vocabulary well chosen? In fact did you notice any of those other points when reading an essay filled with badly spelled words?

Almost every writing program now has a decent spell checker. These programs are easy to use and by continuously using them, the writer eventually improves his or her spelling. It is really irksome when someone who has an interesting point of view, refuses to polish their efforts. Why not present a well honed essay in preference to a casual presentation?  

When you travel down a river in your little boat, don't you dread hitting the jagged rocks? That's how it is with misspelled words. Perhaps some of us are too picky or maybe just old fashioned but don't you find it a bit insulting when a writer refuses to employ a spell checker? Do you judge an article with poor spelling in the same light as you would view another perfectly spelled article? Personally I find poor spelling abhorrent. Reading something filled with such solvable errors is actually unpleasant. If there is any one problem that can easily be solved (especially online!), it is misspelled words. When you judge someones writing, especially that of a professional author, are you impressed and compelled to read their ideas with or without poor spelling? Isn't it distracting when something is misspelled in a newspaper article or a want ad?

When children are confronted by adults who refuse to take the time to spell correctly are they not influenced to follow them as an example of correct behavior? Don't they then become one more building block in the wall of ignorance that retains the casual and punishes the professional? If a poet chooses to misspell for reasons of creativity that's one thing, however casual misspelling affects the tempo and rhythm of the poem as viewers attempt to "translate" the word into a recognizable verbal sound. Very unprofessional.

Of course good content presented perfectly is the goal of most writers when confronted by a crowded marketplace. Perhaps that alone justifies the needed effort to correct your spelling errors. In today's world it's possible to publish everything we ever wrote in a few minutes. Perhaps we should take the time to read over things before we commit them to the eternity of a web existence.

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