Do Typos Matter?

There’s a house in my neighborhood with a sign on the mailbox that says: “no flayers please.”

Did you spot the typo? Of course you did. The flyer delivery guy probably did too.

But do you think he understood the message?

Most likely. (Of course, whether he honoured it or not is a different story.)

Here’s my point. It’s not that spelling, punctuation, and grammar don’t matter. They do. But what matters more than anything is the ultimate effect of your message.

What I’m most concerned with isn’t perfection. It’s stuff like:

Is your message clear?

Does your writing communicate what you are trying to say, to the person you are trying to speak to?

Does it have the desired impact?

I believe most people, when communicating, are overly concerned with looking “dumb”. And this is a problem because when you focus on looking smart or avoiding errors at all costs you miss the bigger picture.

And yes, grammar and punctuation are here to help us communicate effectively. That’s the point of them: to communicate. (Not to prove how smart we are; not to exclude those who aren’t as detail oriented or comfortable with the language; and not just rules for the sake of rules.)

So, the real question is: are you getting your message across?

Go ahead and proofread your work (or hire a copy editor.) But unless you’re hanging up billboards or getting tattooed don’t get too hung up on typos.

Instead, keep returning your focus to who you want to help, how you want to help them, and the big ideas you want to share.