The importance of proofreading

Monday my alma matter’s student run newspaper, gotta love ‘em, had to pull all 18,000 copies of its paper and issue a correction to a photo caption that included what they called a spelling error (check out a Google search for all the coverage it has received).

Really, the word was spelled correctly. It just was the wrong word.

In the caption, instead of referring to members of The Quorum of Twelve Apostles, it said the men were from The Quorum of Twelve Apostates. Oops! Just a tad bit of a different meaning, don’t ya think?

I feel so sorry for the student(s) responsible for that little mix up.

It reminds me of something I read years ago where the author referred to pubic relations instead of public relations. Oh my!

In our profession especially, extra care must be taken to make sure what’s printed or displayed online is correct.

I’m no perfect example. A while back a friend informed me my website had the word were instead of where. Again, a real word. Just the wrong one.

I’m reminded of a sign we saw years ago, and I have a picture somewhere to prove it, outside a Wendy’s in southern Utah. It read, “Now hiring all shits.” Someone, I’m sure, stole the “f” from the word shifts. And we sure got a big kick out of that!

Do you have examples of similar gaffes?

Words are important. Use them wisely, and correctly.