I take these slights far harder than most, and maybe I'm poorer for it. But it's a tenet* of journalism that started in Don Lambert's news writing class that I've extended to most every facet of daily proceedings:
If you misspelled a proper name on any given assignment, you received an F.
And Lambert's explanation was simple. You may have created the most beautiful sentence ever written, but in that spelling error, you have diminished every other facet of your work. The proper spelling of a name is among the simplest facts to verify. People will happily spell their name for you as many times as it takes to get it right. The failure to get it right in print is a tremendous lack of respect to the subject.
And although I'm not writing professionally, I apply that standard to daily life. How disrespectful is it for me to commonly misspell the name of my employees, or prepare invoices to customers with the name of the store wrong? And how badly does a vendor want to have a business relationship if he won't take the seconds necessary to spell my name.
It doesn't matter than mine isn't an easy name. What matters is that when I get mail addressed to "Pete Shotoe", it is clear that somebody hasn't taken the simplest initiative to learn the most basic thing about me.
So forgive me if I'm salty when a PA announcer calls the school I hold dear "Ohio State" or a state representative in chamber calls its team "the Buckeyes". It's been made obvious that those people have not take the initiative to learn the most basic of things. And that I find offensive.
*And I receive an F for misusing the word tenent in this space. Shame on me.
Last Edited: 1/25/2012 1:36:22 PM by Pete Chouteau