Re: Technic writers shall write good,

["Cepek, Marta" <marta -at- M3ISYSTEMS -dot- QC -dot- CA>]

>Marta: I stand corrected :-)

Sorry, Nora, I wasn't *really* correcting you.  I just couldn't resist
pointing out the appropriateness of that *particular* typo.  I find it oddly
hilarious that we often do exactly what we're trying illustrate (I wonder,
is there a term for this?)

>However, I am wondering if a lot of you out there have spell checkers on your
>e-mail? I don't (luckily I have a mail tool, or I'd have to write my e-mail in
>vi or something like that).

<gasp> I couldn't *imagine* doing the volume of e-mail I do in vi!  I use PC
Eudora, and it doesn't have a spell-checker.  Even if it did, I would
probably *not* bother to use it.  I agree with whoever wrote that forums
such as this are casual, and typos, spelling errors, and occasional lapses
of grammar should be tolerated.  The fact is that we are a group of
professional writers, and as such, these types of errrors [sic] tend to be
less frequent than in the general population, and therefore stand out (also,
especially since there are editors on this list who earn their livings and
whose reputations are staked on their abilities to spot them).

I certainly wouldn't get my underwear in a knot over it.  It's the stuff we
put out professionally that needs to be as near-perfect as we can get it.
And for that, I always run a spell checker (but it won't catch "right" for
"write"), and I try to get someone else to proof-read my writing, since I
will read an incorrect sentence (with, say, a dropped article or
preposition) as I *thought* I'd written it, rather than the way it really
is.  If we took as much care with these little missives, which are supposed
to be an informal exchange of information, we'd spend 6 hours a day reading
and replying to this list, and would never get the work we get paid for done!

Cheers!
Marta