Spelling matters

I am surprised at how many people argue that spelling and language skills in general do not matter as long as the message is communicated. Words do matter. Language matters. Etymology matters. Spelling matters.

I’ve put out thousands of pieces of public writing over a career that began with a newspaper column in the early 1980s. My career was mostly built on written publications in the era before social media and blogging. Yet I’m not aware of any piece that was published without some type of language fault.  Mistakes happen. That’s OK, we all survive. But the attitude that these issues are not meaningful to begin with does matter and places us at significant intellectual risk as a society.

I suggest the books “The Mother Tongue; English and How It Got That Way” and “Made in America” by Bill Bryson as  introductory material for anyone with an interest in this topic. Bryson covers the topic superbly.