Throughout my career as a journalist, I was repeatedly told by my editors that no one would take my writing seriously if there were spelling and grammar errors in my stories. I took that with a grain of salt -- I've never really had any problem with spelling or grammar, and I naively thought others were the same way.
And, back then there were very few, if any, spelling or grammar errors in newspapers, magazines, books or other written media. With the advent of the Internet, e-mail, texting and smart phones, that has all changed.
Okay, I understand that. I don't understand, however, the mistakes I see in the printed media. There are blatantly misspelled words and phrases -- and it comes from some pretty seasoned writers who should know better.
Now I understand where my editors were coming from. I see these mistakes and I immediately think "Okay, what else is wrong?" Years ago, I would laugh if I saw something like that in a newspaper and wonder what reporter and copy editor got chewed on. It happened infrequently. Now I lose confidence in the accuracy of what I am reading.
I can't leave without posting a few of my bad grammar/spelling finds below. The first is from my other obsession -- pandas. I love pandas. Quite honestly, it's the first time I've seen something like that on the National Zoo website (home of a new baby panda cub):
And, I just couldn't resist this:
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