by Kalen Ruiz | Featured Contributor
Recently I received a LinkedIn invitation from someone I did not know requesting to connect. When I went to his page to discover how he found me or what circles we might have in common, I read the following in his summary, “If your website is not mobile optimized..your loosing money” [sic].
Quick quiz! How many grammatical errors are there in that statement?
A. 2
B. 1
C. 3
D. Errors? What errors?
If you answered C, congratulations! Welcome to the Grammar Nerd Club. Your copy of the Oxford English Dictionary is in the mail. If you answered A, B or D, take a detour from this post right now and go visit my friend Mignon at http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl. Of all of my pet peeves in the world, poor grammar has got to be in the top 2. (Followed closely by stupid drivers, but that’s another post). In my humble opinion, it immediately defines the writer as lazy, ignorant and apathetic; yet I encounter misspelled words, inaccurate usage, and poor punctuation daily. And these are not just in Facebook posts or casual emails; they are in blogs, professional emails, news websites, and even print articles. I know that remembering the difference between affect and effect is not always at the forefront of everyone’s mind. (Affect verb, effect noun). But the mistakes I see daily are not even as complicated as that. It’s the simple your/you’re, its/it’s, their/there/they’re mistakes that we should have learned back in 3rd grade. There are also those of you out there that use shortcuts and abbreviations intentionally! (GASP!) Seriously y’all, does it really save that much time when you type u instead of you?
I realize that in this modern world of trying to convey the most information possible in a 126 character tweet, or sending a quick text before the light turns green (you know you do it, too), abbreviations and acronyms have become common language. But for the love of a beautifully diagrammed sentence, in professional communications, please proofread. Spell check and grammar check are great, but they will not catch everything, and sometimes, they are wrong. If language and grammar just isn’t your thing, then ask someone to proofread for you. It is worth the extra few minutes spent to make sure you aren’t putting off potential or current business associates because they perceive you as lazy or ignorant.
So, you may ask, how did I respond to the LinkedIn request I received? Well, if I was in the market for a mobile website, I might have been interested in accepting the invitation to connect. That is until I read his first sentence. Unfortunately, I wasn’t interested in reading anything further about him or his company and will not be accepting the invitation. Make sure you don’t “loose” any business this way!
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Kalen Ruiz – Vintage Treasure Hunter, Bess & Evie’s Vintage – Fort Worth, Texas
Kalen Ruiz is a native Texan who discovered the exciting world of vintage clothing during her days as a Fashion Merchandising Major at Texas Christian University. Flea markets, thrift stores, estate sales, and the antique/junk/vintage shop across the street from campus became part of her regular rotation of destinations on the never-ending hunt for vintage treasures. Her trips back home to El Paso would inevitably consist of digging through closets at her parents’ and grandparents’ homes to see what might be found there. Cowboy boots of every color and skin from her dad’s days at the Tony Lama Boot Factory were sadly not in her size, but the array of western belts were quickly snatched up and taken back to Fort Worth. Her grandma Evie’s closets produced a sea of tulle and taffeta that were her aunt’s prom dresses from the 1960s and a collection of coats that sadly Grandma was not ready to part with yet. Grandma Bess, being Scottish had countless handkerchiefs and wool tartans made in to dresses and skirts to add to the treasury. After a career in buying, merchandising, E-commerce and operations with a national home furnishings retailer, Kalen pursued her dream and opened Bess & Evie’s Vintage, a vintage clothing boutique in Fort Worth, Texas in May 2010. Her favorite part of the job is still the thrill of the hunt, but also loves helping people find their own treasures in her boutique.
www.facebook.com/BessandEviesVintage
One Reply to “These Simple Mistakes Might Cost You Business! by @BessandEvies”
Michael Barry
I am right there with you. If a business or “thought leader” will not take a few extra minutes to proof what they write, then they are not getting my attention for another second.
(I hope I did not make any mistakes in the above sentence!)
Mike