As many PR practitioners are simply writers who figured out a way to get paid for it, many are word and grammar geeks. We voraciously devour posts about language and usage, and subscribe to Grammar blogs. Grammar posts on PR blogs get tons of comments. I imagine we all, given the chance (and nerve), would like to emulate my interview subject.  On Friday, I spoke with Jeff Deck, the originator and principal behind the Typo Eradication Advancement League (hereafter: TEAL), about typos, misspellings, and the like.

I first asked Deck if there was a single moment--a deciding factor, straw that broke the camel's back, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore" instant--that made him decide that getting in a car and driving across the country for three months correcting typos was needed. He responded that he's always noticed typos and errors, and that the trip had been in the back of his mind for a while. At a 5-year college reunion, he reflected on his skill set. Doctors save lives; what could he do? His goal became a national campaign of public awareness.

Nearly all of us who work with words see typos and misspellings--some very rudimentary mistakes--and have the urge to correct. Usually, though, we just stew about the error and perhaps make mention of it later, in a "can-you-believe-the-state-of-spelling" kind of way. One of the questions Deck and the rest of his team faced: are these errors a lack of oversight, or a lack of education?  The definition of "typo" is that it is a typographical error--a mistake made in haste, due to lack of oversight. This was actually something that the team struggled with, as it seems in bad taste to point out someone's lack of education to them. Very early on in the trip, he blogged:

[...] I began to wonder if the rest of the journey would follow this same pattern, if I'd continually end up this ogre haunting the less privileged and recent immigrants for the sake of furthering my pet cause. Such a fate seemed at odds with the beliefs that I was sure I held. Could I not be a liberal and correct typos at the same time? Maybe it could be reconciled... we were supposed to be uppity bastards, after all.

Tongue in cheek nature of the last sentence aside, he told me that the TEAL team's efforts were directed by a genuine desire to improve spelling and grammar, and that they realized their education was a privilege that not everyone is afforded. They were sensitive to this, and the solution was to be "as nice as possible" when offering to make a correction.  There are some errors that come up repeatedly, and these he feels demonstrate "genuine gaps in general education"; it is these that were the target of the team.  "Apostrophe abuse," offered Deck, when I asked him for an example.

The tendency to shy away from making a correction probably stems in equal parts from a fear of rejection and a desire not to rankle.  I asked what the split was between those who readily allowed him to make corrections versus those who refused. He said the division was "roughly a third [of the people] were defensive or hostile, another third were positive and thankful for the help to improve the signage, and the remaining third were apathetic." The portion who were apathetic actually worked to the team's advantage, as they "just wanted them out of their hair sooner rather than later," and they were able to quickly accomplish their tasks.

I asked about the refusals, and which bothered him most. He said in general, any of the ones where the signage was obviously wrong and the individuals insisted they were right bothered him. Specifically, he made mention of an educational toy store in Ohio, the employees of which did not allow him to correct signage in the store. I told Jeff that it was exactly that recounting that led me to ask the question--I had come across the post and referenced it in Media Bullseye, as I found the irony troubling. Jeff is also bothered by those who make excuses for the misspellings. In a stylized Old West town(e?), Jeff was told that a sign promoting a "Stationary" store was spelled that way because "that's how it was spelled in the Old West."

I asked Jeff how he felt about intentional misspellings--is this creativity in marketing at work, or does this trend contribute to, exacerbate, or validate, what should be considered a national problem? He said that while certain misspellings "personally bug [him]," that there is no absolute good or bad and that he understands the need for creative license, even if there are perhaps better ways to be creative. "Nite," he pointed out, has been intentionally misspelled in that way for 40 or 50 years.

I noted that he'd recently visited an elementary school, and I asked how receptive the kids were--in fact, I asked him if there was any hope. After laughing a bit, he said there is hope, and that these kids were fortunate to have "a sharp teacher who cares a lot" about grammar, and the kids were "jazzed about the trip." Deck feels this is the key to ensuring a better-spelled future: make teaching it fun and more relevant, and give kids a fun context.

When I asked Deck about a follow-up tour, he stated that current funds do not allow for it, but offered that the overall state of spelling in grammar in the country is not bad, but there are a few trouble spots. Perhaps if we all contribute to the effort--read Letters to a Young Typo-Hunter for tips on how to do so successfully--maybe we can live in a happier, more correctly-spelled, America.