I can’t go anywhere or read anything without coming across a misspelled word. Is it the English teacher in me that seems to have an eagle eye for errors? I never won a spelling bee or made perfect grades on spelling tests every week as a child, but the misspelled words present themselves at every turn. Every day, I drive by a fast food restaurant that wants me to indulge in its burritos. But the sign outside of their establishment reads Chessy burritos. I laugh every morning. I know that I am odd. I take pictures of spelling errors on state park signs. I clip plastic wrappers from baked chicken that misspell its as it’s. My eyes are immediately drawn to these egregious errors.
I wish the attraction was as strong in my own writing. Unfortunately, I fail to notice my own errors, which I find so irritating. Why is it so easy to find errors in others’ writing and miss my own? What is a flagrant error in others’ writing becomes invisible when I pen my own work.
I wonder if people in other professions have similar issues? Do decorators walk into someone’s home and think, “How could they put those colors together?” I’m not sure. But what I can say is that I am grateful to those who have proofed my progress reports, articles, term papers, and the like. They have helped me see what I could not.
Now, let’s hope this post has no errors! That would be irony at its best!