Not surprisingly, I love looking for typos.

The author of the book makes a great point:

Typos cloud communication, which is the primary purpose of writing. If your text has typos, it’s going to take your readers longer to read it. If typos get in the way of your text, it’s going to cause a problem, especially today, where you often only have a second to grab your reader’s attention. It can also be a warning sign that whatever text you’re looking at was created by someone who might not be paying that much attention.

Can I get an amen?

Seriously, if I see typos, I think: Low credibility. I don’t like having to read over a passage again and again. I’m not talking about speakers of English as a foreign language making mistakes— often, I find non-natives have better English — or the occasional mistake. It happens.

But if you see nothing wrong with these phrases, others may not take you seriously:

“Me and I so-and-so bought…” So-and-so and I bought

“They was…” They were

“I would of” I would’ve. I would have

Once you realize your sore points or someone calls you out on it, it’s amazing how often you notice others making the same mistakes you did, and in the case of spelling bees, you never misspell that word again!

It reminds me of my last night in London, where to my horror and my best friend Jessica’s, we spotted BAD ENGLISH.

Staff Are Not ALOUD (sic) In The Kitchen becomes Staff Are Not Allowed In The Kitchen.

It was in a restricted area, but I braved it. I wouldn’t be a copy editor otherwise.

This wasn’t my last foray into Grammar Police territory. Oh no! Earlier this week, I had lunch with fellow copy editor Rich at a delicious but spelling-challenged restaurant. I had to fix “lucious” into “luscious.” Naturally. However, I didn’t take a picture of it. I do want to eat there again

What spelling/grammar errors drive YOU nuts? Have you ever changed a sign? If so, you might just be a candidate for Grammar Police!

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

(h/t cranky_editors.)