Okay, guys. I gotta level with you here. I’ve seen this problem on enough dating profiles that it’s driving me nuts.
USE SPELLING AND GRAMMAR CHECK!
I cannot tell you how many perfectly intelligent, wonderfully sweet geek men have profiles that make the perfectly intelligent, wonderfully sweet geek girls want to tear their hair out.
What Are You Thinking?!?!?
Does your resume contain spelling and grammar errors? I’ll bet it doesn’t. I’ll bet that you proofread that puppy like crazy. Gave it the finetoothed comb treatment. Or at least you handed it off to someone who could do it for you.
Why did you do that? Because your resume is your first impression to a potential employer. Oh, and those rumors about HR throwing resumes with mistakes into the shredder? Not rumors.
So why are you being so careless with your love life?
Geek Girls Find Good Grammar Sexy
I know lots of girls who will disqualify a guy as a potential match if his profile is riddled with spelling mistakes. (I know a couple girls that won’t tolerate a single error, but they’re a little crazy.) It’s not that we’re Grammar Nazis, it’s just that if you’re that careless about your profile, you probably won’t be the great boyfriend and future husband that we need.
We understand that you’re probably a math guy. Math guys don’t do the whole WORDS thing well. But good news, Math Guy, the geek gods invented this wonderful thing called Spellcheck. Oh, and grammar too. You don’t even have to know what’s wrong, you just have to click n’fix.
Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself
Go run your profile through spellcheck. Geek girls everywhere will thank you for it.
Is your profile a wreck? Wheel it into my shop and I’ll fix it for you.
About e
When I see what spellcheckers and grammar correctors can tell you some times…
I’d better give my profile to e! (yes this is free advertisement)
Hyb’
To me, nothing says lazy and/or immature like bad grammar. I am not a Grammar Nazi, but I do typically spell everything out when I text message
Poor spelling, grammar and formatting are a pet hate of mine.
I tend to close a profile as soon as I notice abysmal language. One or two small mistakes, on the other hand, are fine.
Edit: Just had to edit that comment after I mis-used a comma. Woops.
Hammer´s last blog post..Potato, Vegetable & Feta Bake
I’d like to point out that this is true of men reading a woman’s profile. At least, it is for me. I view the ability to use proper grammar and spelling as a sign of intelligence. It doesn’t have to be perfect – mine certainly isn’t. But I do make the effort, and would expect the same from someone I would be compatible with.
@ Hyb – Merci.
@ Hammer – That’s why I love the edit comments plugin.
@ Gianavel – Indeed, it works both ways! But since this is a blog for geek men, I tend to write from that side. If you want the unbiased stuff, check me out on Examiner.com.
yes. oh yes. please, please use the spelling and grammar checker functions that exist in almost everything these days. If you don’t, well….as e says: that pretty much sums up what sort of boyfriend you’d be.
but also: if you’re not entirely sure which word to pick from the choices offered use a thesaurus and/or google it. Using the wrong word is as bad as spelling it wrong. (I’m not talking fine shades of meaning, I’m talking ‘gnoll’ vs. ‘knoll’)
great post
@Sandrinnad -
Hey! There’s nothing wrong with having a picnic on top of a grassy Gnoll.
…you just have to be quiet, so he stays asleep.
Graham´s last blog post..32 hours of D&D gaming party!
I agree with Darius, it’s a sign of immaturity. I think I am a grammar/spelling Nazi though. I can’t even stand “text-speak”.
I had someone follow me on Twitter not so long ago so I checked out her profile and saw that she was a fellow writer and followed her back.
I then get an auto-dm (grr) “Thanx 4 yr follow Looking out 4 yr tweets tho I dont autofollowback so gimme some time to check u out/follow back”
She doesn’t Tweet like that nor does she write her blog like that so why use that as an auto-dm!
Marc – WelshScribe´s last blog post..7 Ways To Improve Your Commenting
@ Graham – Love it. Someone should draw a picture of that. Or maybe we need a new RPG blogger to create TheGrassyGnoll.com?
@ Marc – That’s just gross. If I can’t say it without resorting to text speak, I usually don’t say it. Once in a blue moon I’ll shorten a word or two in a tweet if the rest is totally freakin’ amazing, but otherwise – ENGLISH PLEASE!
@Graham – *sporfle*
k, that just made my morning
Agreed, spelling is such a simple thing to fix these days that anyone who can’t bother running a simple spell check just reeks of incompetence. Of course, there are slip-ups from time to time that are certainly excusable, but some of the profiles I’ve seen on plentyoffish.com make my eyes want to vomit.
Matt´s last blog post..Online Dating Profile Word Clouds
Also note – even if you use some sort of automated spell-check, remember to read it through when you’re done. I once had a history test that dealt with pubic hangings instead of public ones. The teacher didn’t even attempt to stop the giggles on that one.
@J – and that just made my evening
I say again – great post e
@ J – Is it awful that I’m trying to envision how a pubic hanging would work? I mean, I can see it for guys, but where exactly do you tie the noose on the girls?
Im convinced people dont like predictive text on mobiles cos it only works if you spell words correctly.
A minor i-before-e spelling error won’t turn me off, but I know I reduce my opinion of the person’s intelligence when they use the wrong “your” or “there”!
Meg´s last blog post..Liu Gong Island