Spellchecking Is Never Enough, # 37

After a couple of days off, one of the best/worst mangles we've had, supplied by . For reasons that will become obvious, I've made it as anonymous as I can without losing the point of it.

As some readers are aware, there have been occasional discussions on Facebook about whether any of this ― spelling correctly, checking for errors, using the right word ― matters at all, or even whether it should matter. As I've said before, and will doubtless say again, one thing that particularly incenses me is when someone's failure to think, check and/or proofread results in a piece of text that is unintentionally and inappropriately humorous. This provokes amusement in the reader, who has been manoeuvred into involuntarily laughing at others' woe.

It's heinous when the text has been published by someone who is paid for producing it, whether this be a professional writer responsible for creating the content, or an inputter or typist, whose job is to transmit others' words.

So, anyone who thinks it doesn't matter, read this:

Imagine the feelings of the people who paid for the privilege of having this in memoriam notice unforgivably mangled by a newspaper-office employee who couldn't be bothered to check it properly.