Watch your words! (Wild card: spelling error)

Think back to your grade school years. How many spelling tests did you have? If your school was like mine, you likely had weekly spelling tests for the duration of at least one grade.


Early on, we're taught the importance of spelling correctly. The fact that, throughout the entirety of our academic careers, spelling is something that teachers have consistently taken points off for emphasizes this importance.

Consequently, it seems like a no-brainer that spelling would be something that journalists would be hyper aware of in their writing. Unfortunately, that's not always the case, as Rolling Stone writer Tim Dickinson proves in his article "BP Blowout Birthday: 'This Absolutely Could Happen Again Tomorrow.'"

Prior to the BP blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, the Obama administration talked tough about reforming the corrupt and scientifically bankrupt management of offshore drilling in America — but did tragically little to tranform the Interior Department's arm-in-arm relationship with Big Oil.

Tranform? I'm pretty sure that's not a word. I'm going to assume that Dickinson meant transform, not tranform.

Dickinson also threw a lovely misspelled gem into his blog post "420, Meet Earth Day: The Secret Carbon Toll of Indoor Bud."

Lighting up all that indoor bud takes a massive amount of electiricty. Indoor marijuana cultivation accounts for 2 percent of U.S. household energy use, according to a new report by an energy analyst at Lawrence Berkeley National Labs. 

Come on, Dickinson! Two different stories, both with spelling errors?! For shame.

With spell check so easily accessible, there's really no reason for spelling mistakes to slip through the cracks and make their way into otherwise good writing. So watch your words! One little mishap can hurt your credibility as a quality writer.



Dickinson, Tim. "BP Blowout Birthday: 'This Absolutely Could Happen Again Tomorrow." Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/bp-blowout-birthday-this-absolutely-could-happen-again-tomorrow-20110420. 20 April 2011.

Dickinson, Tim. "420, Meet Earth Day: The Secret Carbon Toll of Indoor Bud." Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/420-meet-earth-day-the-secret-carbon-toll-of-indoor-bud-20110422. 22 April 2011.