Do Typos Really Matter?

I suppose this whole argument depends on how you define “typo”.

Is a typo a misspelling of a word, or does using the wrong form of “your/you’re” or “their/they’re/there” count as a typo?

Personally, an unintentional slip of a consonant doesn’t bother me at all. It can simply be disregarded as a mistake. An improper usage of the word “there”, however, is almost unforgivable.

There’s a huge difference between having slippery sausage fingers, and not knowing how to convey your message by using the right words.

Thier, I sayed it.

What makes improper use of a homophone worse than a misspelled word?

Improper usage of a homophone indicates a level of educational inadequacy, whereas a random slip of a finger indicates you’re just sloppy… Or had a greasy Egg McMuffin for breakfast.

And sloppy, Egg McMuffin eating tweeple I can stand reading. Misused homophones I can’t… And copy is all about evoking emotion from your reader, is it not?

Ha, I can see the logic. However, all of these things can be avoided with a quick glance, so I don’t think either are excusable. Unless the “backspace” key is too covered in melted lard to be of any use.

Very true on the Twitter front.

As far as the copy, it’s a quote from the Apple iPad video. I believe it’s from one of the designers who helped create the device.

Just curious on everyone’s thoughts on this quote. Is this a situation where you would edit a direct quote that’s extremely conversational and passionate for the sake of good grammar?

My take is that while grammar is important, it’s necessary to know the rules so they can be purposefully broken in ad writing. Some examples: “Think Different” and “Got Milk?”.

Part of me can see the desire for wanting conversational copy, but the problem I have with this is that it doesn’t match anything else they’ve written. It sticks out like a sore thumb coming from a company who usually nails it–perfectly conveying high-tech features while still maintaining a casual tone.

The difference I see between this chunk of text and taglines such as “Think Different” is how they are used. This text is meant to sell you on a product/feature directly, while those taglines are meant to demonstrate a tone and personality. Although I’d love for them to be grammatically accurate, I can better understand the reasoning in those circumstances.

What do you think?

While it’s different than the rest of the pages copy — I think it’s perfect for Apple and where it is in the marketplace. After all, that Wall Street Journal quote was pretty accurate “The last time there was this much excitement over a tablet it had some commandments written on it.”

By having that piece of copy structured the way it is, it reads much like an Apple fan(atic) would talk about the device. Also, the way it’s used on the feature page is like that of a headline. So, I can understand why it’s different from the body.

While I agree that this text is meant to sell, they’ve most likely already sold a million of these on hype alone. They are the “it” company that just has to play up the excitement and cool factor of their products. But I digress, in MOST companies sales/ features copy I completely agree with you. With Apple, short of just completely insulting people, they could write whatever they want. I think that’s why they’re a dream account for any copywriter (including this one). Phoenix branch of TBWA/Chiat/Day? Maybe? Please?

I found a typo (missing word) in the paragraph below, but something tells me you might have done IT on purpose. Hmmm…

Being transparent, honest, and open is not reflected in the typos you make. Sure, it adds a human element to something, but human error is probably not the human element you’re looking to get across. There are better ways to demonstrate transparency, and that is in the content of what is you’re saying. A typo-filled tweet consisting of valuable information that adequately portrays your company’s personality and brand might actually be saying something other than what you intended.

Thanks for finding that! Any other comments about the post?

Hmmm. This is a tough one for me. As an editor, I’m constantly correcting typos, and as a former hiring manager, I would automatically toss any resume that contained a mistake. (One of the worst offenders broke four AP Stylebook rules in a resume submitted for a job that specifically required “proficiency in AP Style.”)

I completely agree that if you’re in a particular field that requires expertise in writing or editing, it is important that everything you communicate be above reproach. But I confess I’ve relaxed my standards for friends, family, acquaintances on FB and Twitter — pretty much anyone who doesn’t write or edit for a living. (Strangely, I found people did not always appreciate receiving corrected versions of their e-mails.)

I’m not a professional copywriter by any means but reading a sloppy or grammatically incorrect tweet, blog post, headline, etc. tells me one major thing about that person/company above all else – they don’t want to take their time to execute well.

This might be alright for reading my friend’s rants about his job but if I’m going to buy from or partner with that person in any kind of meaningful way in the future this would make me hesitate.

I want to know you think things through and execute well. Even better if you can do that quickly. If you can’t, that’s okay too. You’ll just output less crap than the rest of us.

Avoiding typos altogether would be ideal. However, when people are posting on the fly, it’s not realistic. I would rather read the occasional misspelled word or mistyped character than miss out on someone’s quick updates and random musings, because they are too concerned about typos to tweet.

While it’s true that people will judge everything you do and say, Twitter is not a resume. It is, for the most part, a conversational and informal medium. As such, there are many aspects of Twitter communication that are more important than an accidental keystroke.

I’m going to straddle both sides of the line on this one. While I agree with Stephanie, avoiding typos completely isn’t only unrealistic, it’s far from natural. We’re human.

As humans, I feel we hold ourselves to a higher standard when a job or the like is on the line, and tend to give things a second glance more often. But when it’s something personal, we tend to be a bit more lax and shoot from the hip. At least that’s how I tend to operate

There will always be repeat offenders and those who don’t care, we just have to be better than that. Unfortunately, being better requires additional time, and time isn’t always something we have when posting on the fly or trimming a message. Can’t we let Twitter be an informal medium, yo?

Typos can be:

1. Really, really embarrassing.
2. A source of brilliance.
3. Not that big of a deal
4. Kind of funny
5. A stupid thing to argue about in emails with clients

But usually, typos are just something we all try to avoid because we really do care about how we communicate with others.

“Do Typos Really Matter?”
Let us review the comments above:

- At university, they diminished grade-scoring
- In investment pitches and hiring, they result in rejections
- In client-dealings, they diminish perceived value
- In professional publication, they are auto-corrected
- In social media, they lower perceived social
aptitude

Do typos really matter….