Category Archives: misspellings

This was on a box in a package I received from something I had ordered on Amazon. I try to have lots of grace with things that aren’t spelled correctly according to American style in another country, but if merchandise from another country is being shipped for sale here in America, I think they need to take the extra time to make sure the instructions make sense and the packaging is correct. The reverse is also true–if an American is selling products in other countries, they should make sure that the instructions and packaging make sense in the country where they are marketing their merchandise.

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A friend sent me these assembly instructions for a desk she purchased. I assume the manufacturer’s first language is not English, but instructions on something you are selling in the United States are kind of important and they should take more care with translations. I am really impressed, however, with the proper use of “It’s” in the last sentence.

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I snapped this picture over the holidays at a local drive-through restaurant. The first, “day,” is singular yet they list several days. The second, “pease,” is obviously meant to be “please.” I realize “Drive Thru” is also incorrect as it should be hyphenated, but the spelling is listed in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary as a variant or less common spelling. It is fine for this casual use, but I would not use it in legal documents.

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I saw this advertisement in my Facebook feed recently. As you may know, I have a much higher standard for educational institutions–even preschool. If you’re going to be teaching children, you should take even more care to spell things correctly.

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My son sent this picture to me. One of the most important words on the item is misspelled. That could be very bad for business. Think about a Google search. How could it come up when you search for “furniture”? Just another reason spelling matters!

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I am not sharing this example to start any kind of political discussion and any political comment will be deleted. The purpose is to show another example of spell check doing its job and checking how words are SPELLED–just not PROOFREADING and checking for content. The headings, inside addresses, “Re:” lines, and, as in this case, “To:” lines (among others) of letters and documents aren’t often looked at once they have been typed, so they are the perfect place for typos to get through.

Another thing that doesn’t help with those types of errors is Word settings. So go to your Word, File, Options, Proofing, and UNCHECK “Ignore words in UPPERCASE.” That way, spell check will at least check headings and other pieces of your work that are in all caps for spelling errors.

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My daughter-in-law sent me this from one of the Facebook pages she follows. Obviously, it is a correctly spelled word, just an incorrectly used word.

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Twice in one week I’ve now seen this same error. This time it is in my Microsoft Outlook email. While the fact that my inbox is full will surprise no one who knows me, I’m not sure why it is so difficult for a company like Microsoft to spell “receive” correctly.

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