Just say Mike

Posted on June 4, 2005 by Gene

One of my pet peeves is the deterioration of spelling in this country — perhaps even this world. Everywhere I look, spelling is getting worse and the errors are more prominently displayed. Here’s just one example, from the Target near me:

There were several of these large signs in the store. I guess their proofreader was unavailalbe.

One other spelling aberration that’s always bugged me is the way people mangle the name Michael. So many people swap the A and E, and it’s done so often that it’s become almost acceptable. In fact, I have met at least one person officially named Micheal, who clearly had a typo on his birth certificate. And then, there’s this headline from today’s Washington Post, an outfit that one assumes has proofreaders on staff:

For the record, my name is spelt Gene Cowan, not Gean Cowen. Seriously.