by Rich Schiffer, Weichert, Realtors
I am the type of person that is really annoyed when I post something with a typographical error in it, and my eye seems to gravitate to typos in printed documents more readily than that of the average reader. Professional publications often have typos, and to me it reflects poorly on the company that commissioned the piece. If a company's flyer has a typo, I tend to categorize (and unfairly so, most likely) the company as unprofessional, and sloppy. In reality, that categorization might more aptly fit the advertising agency that produced the document. It is unfortunate, but a simple mistake can have an adverse effect on the public's perception of a company. Unfair, but true.
The funny thing is though, that the human brain is so sophisticated that it can read a word and understand it even if it is full of typographical errors. For Example:
Did yuo konw taht teh aervage pesron can atculaly raed a flul snetacne as lnog as ecah wrod in teh snetacne has all teh corerct letrtes in tehm, and teh frist and lsat letrtes aer in teh corerct potisoin? Wrods wtih olny trhee lettres can smoteimes be msipleld too if it ends in a vwoel. Inretesting, ins't it?
So, the question I am faced with is this? If we have no trouble understanding the message, despite the mistakes, why am I so insistent on correct spelling and grammar in professionally prepared documents? The answer may lie deep within my subconscious, and I am sure several hundred hours with a therapist could help me get at the answer on some psycological level, but here is how I choose to answer this question today (and thereby avoid that therapy bill)
In the types of transactions that we do, as real estate professionals, we are governed by laws. The core of this business, the Agreement of Sale for the Transfer of Real Property, is interpreted and held to be enforceable because of laws. In a dispute, it is the letter of the law that gets applied to the letter of the agreement. Any ambiguous language, must be interpreted by a judge, sometimes without the benefit of input from the original creator or signers of the documents in dispute. If you don't understand what I mean, just think about supreme court justices today trying to determine the intent of the "eminent domain" issues as framed by the drafters of the Bill Of Rights. Clarence Thomas cannot ask the founding fathers to explain what they meant on line 138.
It is for this reason alone, I think that as real estate professionals, we need to be extra vigilant when it comes to mistakes in the written word. Someone once said, "Amateurs practice till they get it right. Professionals practice till they can't get it wrong." I think that by applying that to something as fundamental as practicing proper spelling and grammatic usage of the language, we improve our ability to call ourselves "Professionals" and we decrease the chance that a judge may someday have to decide what we intended in a contract or agreement.
If I see a typo in someone's profile or post, I sometimes will message that person privately, so that they can correct the problem before it gets noticed by the general public, or otherwise distributed. I ask other professionals to do the same for me. I promise I will never be offended by someone pointing out a typo or other error that I missed. I may be a bit embarrassed that I missed it, but I will be grateful for having it pointed out to me.
