In the not-so-olden days, a writer relied on an electric or even a manual typewriter, some White Out for mistakes and a dictionary. Spell Check was nothing more than a glimmer in some young technical genius’ eye. Instead, you depended on your own keen sense of spelling and grammar, with help from Merriam-Webster. A typo was unacceptable.
Today, we pretty much rely on the Spell Check built-into our software to get us through an important piece of copy. But we shouldn’t place all our faith in that. Just like everything else in life, we’ve got to take some personal responsibility for our writing.
Just the other day, I was writing an article and wanted to describe the large portions of food served at a restaurant. I first wrote down hearty, then switched to hardy, then decided I needed to consult the dictionary included with MS Word. I have to say, I wasn’t totally convinced after reading the definitions provided there.
So I lugged the big red dictionary over to my computer (complaining all the way, of course; what a hassle to have to actually GET UP from your computer station!). I saw that among the definitions for hardy were bold and brazen and inured to fatigue or hardships. I wouldn’t want to eat that type of food, would you? But just to be sure I had the correct word, I flipped the pages to hearty: abundant, rich or flavorful enough to satisfy the appetite. Ah, there we go!
Anyone can get confused with the meanings of words or the spelling of words or how words should be used in a sentence. The dictionary comes in handy for all of that. (As an example, it can–and should!–be used to remind oneself about when to use “its” and “it’s” in a sentence. More on that issue–one of my pet peeves–in another post.) The dictionary confirms our thought or politely lets us know we’re wrong. Plus, it forces us to move our bodies when typing and gives us a chance to hold a great book in our hands if only for a minute.
The dictionary: a must-read for writers, whether they’re doing so for business or pleasure.
This is the way things should be, get off what we are on now