Wednesday, September 14, 2011

I hate typos

Unlike most spelling and grammar errors, typos are true mistakes and not the result of being sloppy or just not giving a rat's ass, both of which seem to be acceptable under increasingly lax standards. Typos happen anyway, often when we are trying to hurry. I have accepted the fact that I will never be able to spell the word "occasional" correctly without looking it up (I can never remember how many c's and how many s's there are supposed to be) and I do so every single time I have to use it. It's a matter of caring enough to get little details right. But that doesn't mean my stupid fingers won't screw it up when I go to type it. I'm sure Mavis Beacon would say that the terrible posture I exhibit when I type doesn't help. It's so obviously awful, with me being either too close or too far away, all slumped over or leaning back, that I'm sure Mavis Staples would make the same observation. Regardless of the circumstances, I hate it whenever certain parts of my body just decide to go off-book and operate independently of each other.
Two typos that I frequently make aggravate me to the point of anger...
  • "Thankls" (instead of "Thanks") - I hate it because of how it sounds when spoken aloud (rhymes with "ankles"). I recently learned of the existence of a middle-aged woman who works with someone I know. She replaces or adds the suffix of "ies" to words all the time. "Lunch" is "lunchies". When she says she's changing her shoes, she says, "I'm going to put on my sneakies". "Keys" are "Keysies". As much as she obviously deserves a severe beating, lots of people do that or something similar. For them, "yes" not only gets changed to "yep" but "yeppers". I do not in any way want to be associated with these people, but "thankls" sounds exactly like the kind of thing they would say. "Hey, I appreciate you picking me up when my car ran out of gas; please accept my sincere thankls!" sounds anything but sincere.
  • "Yopu" (instead of "You") - This one I hate it because of the way it looks if it makes it into a message unchecked: "I'm looking forward to seeing yopu soon!" If taken literally, one might think I'm excited about going to an anime convention to view an unusually specific form of pornography, that involves furry costumes and the creative-yet-specific use of marshmallows.
One of my worst nightmares would be using them both at the same time: "I'm so glad I could be here with yopu for Thanklsgiving. Please pass those marshmallows, grandma."

2 comments:

Marissa said...

Your constants are different from mine. "The" always presents an issue for me. There is another one, but I cannot think of it at this time. It just irks me when it happens.

Ruprecht said...

Good Gordness!

And here I thought I was the only one on the planet that had difficulty with the word "occasion" and its variants ... !!!

Over the last month, I've forced - FORCED, I tell you - myself to spell "occasion" and "occasional" correctly, embedding in my brain there are two "C"s and one "S" in the words.

And let me tell you: Sometimes? That's tough work ...

March on ...