Received an email the other day from an analytical company keen to get our business. One of the service highlights in the email was this sentence:
"We provide your analytical results in a comprehensive, east to read format saving youtime and possible confusion."
East to read? youtime? Save you possible confusion? How about easy to read, you time and save you from possible confusion.
A little proofreading could have avoided those errors. Spell Check would have helped as well. But apparently Spell Check is not for everyone.
Yesterday two friends proudly stated they didn't use Spell Check, something on which I rely hourly and am not ashamed to admit (although I will confess that, like saving phone numbers in my cell phone and finding I must rely on the phone and not memory to recall a number, reliance on Spell Check has weakened my retention of some spelling rules).
The discussion took place during my futile attempt at the Sunday crossword. I think they were amused that I was having as challenging a time as I was, not to mention how thoroughly (or as they said, slowly) I was going through the clues. They offered suggestions, which I accepted, but I later discovered that, like some of my own guesses, some of those were incorrect, which left me understandably handicapped moving forward. Something they seemed to consider a slippery excuse, rather than a valid reason. As if reading upside down is a normal thing.
The puzzle did not get finished. Too much ink; too little brain. Plus, the homemade gumbo was ready and who wants to work on a crossword that makes you want to pull your hair out when you can eat gumbo that a friend has cooked from scratch all afternoon? Obviously, the answer is keep your hair.
In my crossword defense, I'd like to say that according to the Oxford Essential Thesaurus, ballot is synonymous with slate. The fact that it didn't fit is something else altogether. Oh, and Sara and Leah are two different people. That alone keeps me at least treading water in the same pool as they.
Still, I didn't know what the heck unguent meant. But I do know a good Sunday afternoon when I have one. And I do know a good Gumbo when I taste it.
6 comments:
I couldn't agree with you more about the ignorance toward simple editing in this country. I, however, have never had the opportunity to taste good gumbo.
You're a good writer. I'm glad the blog wheel spun to your site.
Take care.
Alison, care to trade gumbo for shoes? Are you a size 7 1/2, by any chance? ;)
Mensa is stupid.
R2K
i never finish those puzzles either. i usually just feel depressed afterwards. i realize i am not a writer, but i should know my own language.
I two am guilty of being a pour speller. Sometimes though, spell checker betrays you're best intentions. I can't weight until the day that we can all send hour computers to work for us. Just think about all the free time weed have to just seat around and contemplate our naval.
I'll trade you a gumbo recipe for a chilly recipe.
NG - Alas, Cinderella's slippers are not my size.
Adam - That must have been painful to write b/c it hurt me to read it. The gumbo recipe is not mine but I do know you start with a roo... rous... ahem, roux, and follow it with the holy trinity.
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