Keep clam and proofread

**Bonus points if you see what I did there.**

Words are more virtual now, which means a lot more of our words appear in print. Kind of ironic, right? That also means that typos, word misuse, or other “issues” are seen and recorded digitally for all of time.

(You didn’t really think you could delete something that has appeared, even briefly, in the virtual world, did you?)

Now that you have more time on your hands, use that time to read, re-read, and proofread.

Typos and misinterpretations came out in a big way recently in a meme that was supposed to represent the CDC guidelines for re-opening schools. Someone took a 60-page document and turned it into a 1-page list that quickly made the social media rounds. The meme starts out with a typo (“guidlines”) and then goes on to leave out critical words and reword critical statements.

That “someone” was apparently not from the CDC. More likely, it was someone who decided to condense the long document into a more succinct list for sharing online. However, that list left out words that added context to the meaning of the guidelines (not only misspelled but later misstated as rules), including phrases such as “if possible” and “when feasible” that can make all the difference in the interpretation of the piece as a whole.

When you write your own posts, emails, web content, and memes, take your time and review your work before allowing the world to see it. Put it aside for a while and look at it with fresh eyes. Get another set of eyes to review it for readability and accuracy.

For some reason, we tend to see our typos as our words fly off into the virtual world. Most of us do, indeed, do our best proofreading after we hit “send” or “post.” Now that you are spending more time in that virtual world, reserve a few minutes for re-reading and proofreading.

And those are my guidlines for you.

Thanks for reading!