This title is an actual response from a boat salesman I dealt with recently. His website was so full of misspelled words and poor grammar that I couldn’t resist asking one simple question. “If you can’t take the time to use proper English (or find someone who can assist you) in your communication to your prospective consumers, are you cutting corners in other areas, like the actual production of your product?”
The fact that the “k” and “m” key are close in proximity on a keyboard is no excuse. And in this case, even with our wonderful technology, a spell check would not have helped, simply because “boom” and “book” are both legitimate words.
As a consumer, is there ever a time a spark of doubt exists when you are shopping for something and the website, manual, or directions are using less than acceptable English? (The ones from Japan or China seem to be the worst). And you sense that very little time was spent on any communication materials related to this product. It’s hard to believe a product for instance, in China, can be constructed with all the care in the world, only to hire some cheap translator that would not pass first grade English class to write the manual or prepare their website.
I once read a dog training book that had 367 mistakes that I found. When I approached the author of the book with my concerns, she simply said, “I’m a dog trainer, not an English teacher.” The University of Iowa P.H.D. who edited the book had other unacceptable excuses. The most constant error was the use of the words “loose” and “lose.” I loose my mind every time I read a chapter in this book. Although the author is one of the most recognized dog trainers in the nation, do we, as consumers accept this poor use of the English language, and trust that this is the only area that cutting corners has taken place?
More often than not, a spell check will help in correcting many of the errors. Although proof-reading would certainly go a lot further. Many times when proof-reading a document, additional errors may pop up that went un-detected the first time around.
A doctor (not from Western Kansas) once sent me a “Permission for Surgery” form and there were 7 misspelled words in the text. My first thought was, if the good doctor could not take time to properly prepare this form, was he also going to cut corners during the surgery? I imagined him calling weeks after the surgery to let me know he had left a scalpel somewhere in my body.
Certainly, the use of cell phones have had an effect on communication, as it is much easier to say “R U sleeping” than to actually spell out each word. And as long as we can understand what’s being communicated is there any harm in this? Probably not. It’s certainly easier to do. But an informal text to a friend or loved one is a far cry from a company formally advertising a product.
So, as part of our “Buyer Beware” philosophy do we demand, as consumers, that proper English and spelling take place before considering a product, or do we just let the English language continue its degradation?
Only you can answer that question. But, in the meantime, I would like to thank all the readers of this financial column, as I have enjoyed putting this together each month. I hope it has helped you in some small ways to improve your own financial picture. I also hope yu ahl hav a Mery Christmus and a Hapy Nu Yeer!
Tim Schumacher, [email protected], is a Hays financial adviser.