Friends don't let friends do THIS

I recently saw a graphic posted on Facebook with the following one-liner:

"Sadly, the days of people using proper English are went."

I found it cleverly drives home the point that many people have become far too lazy to check their IMs and text messages for punctuation and grammar before sending them off.

We all have at least one friend or relative who does this, and maybe we're guilty of it ourselves at times.

As a writer/editor/proofreader by trade, my writing is usually impeccable. If I happen to notice a misspelling on my part after the text was sent, I'm quick to write the word correctly with an asterisk next to it, letting the recipient know it was done accidentally.

I realize that this is to be expected from someone who writes for a living, and that others may not be such sticklers for grammar and spelling when having casual conversations with friends and family.

But I just can't help it when people are too sloppy, peppering the conversation with typos that should have easily been caught by their phone or computer's auto correct feature.

I'm okay with acronyms like OMG and LOL, as I use them myself when pressed for time.

But too many spelling and punctuation errors shows a level of carelessness that, I hope, doesn't extend into one's professional life. In most workplaces (including mine), typos aren't tolerated. It not only makes the culprit look sloppy, but it reflects poorly on the entire company.

I don't mean to be so fastidious about this, but I guess it's one of my pet peeves. I've noticed that when most of my friends converse with me via email, text, social media, or IM, they make a conscious effort to spell everything correctly and correct themselves when they've made a mistake.

I'd like to think that my style of writing rubs off on them, as they're well aware of my penchant for detail and wordsmith ways.

Do you include a lot of typos when writing to friends and family? Does the habit carry over into the workplace?

Comments

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