Why attention to detail matters

June 7, 2010 in for Churches, Outreach

A friend responded to my recent post with the video ‘What is your God?‘. He said:

“What drove me nuts more was not the crackly music – but the spelling error (‘whats your God’ instead of ‘what’s your God’).  It made me not want to use it.  I suppose it brings home how even small glitches can ruin a whole good work – or that I’m a huge pedant!”

It’s a good insight.

That video would have taken hours to put together. Yet, the lack of attention to detail in a couple of areas impacts how many people would be willing to use it. It’s a shame, but you don’t want people only remembering the video for the poor punctuation. Its a shame, because it’s so easily avoided.

I, like my friend, am a pedant when it comes to detail like this (and I’ve written about poor spelling and punctuation several times before – see links below). Are you also a pedant, or do you think it doesn’t really matter?

  • http://youth.stmatts.org.au CJ

    It definitely matters. It’s not that I can’t understand what’s being written (well usually that’s the case at least), but it’s more that it becomes an unnecessary distraction – I won’t be as focussed on the message that you’re trying to get across because I’m distracted by bad grammar or punctuation.

  • Andrew

    I agree, CJ. It does matter, and yes, I can usually understand but seem to remember the poor spelling or missed word or untidy layout or…

    I want to remember the message, but find myself not doing so when there are errors.

  • Ian Carmichael

    Once again, I think I’ve spotted your deliberate irony…

    “Its a shame, because it’s so easily avoided.”

    “It’s a shame…”

    You really should give me a prize. That’s twice now.

    I guess I am a pedant.

  • Steven Kryger

    Although not the pedant I was referring to in the post :)

  • http://kirribillikim.blogspot.com KIM

    YES, sir, I am!!

    Rarely am I so proud of our church as whenever I read that slide that has both “your” and “you’re” on it — used correctly!! :) I forget which one it is, but it’s a standard one that shows up every week. There’s a few others, though, that I’d be happy to edit slightly sometime …

  • http://www.effectivechildrensministry.org Lin Pearson

    Yes, it matters! I am a pedant, too. A misplaced comma or a missing apostrophe can alter the meaning of a sentence. The old chestnut is still a good example: “Let’s eat Grandma!” or “Let’s eat, Grandma!”

    Bad spelling, grammar or punctuation can sometimes create a barrier that is hard to penetrate, no matter how good the message is. I think this is particularly so in the written word, when the author should have time to review and correct the work.

    The same problems arise with bad grammar in public speaking. But many people are more forgiving of that, because the person may not be a professional speaker, and be speaking off-the-cuff. they may also have a very engaging personality or story, which both counteract the grammar mistakes they made.

    With something going online or into print, it always pays to have a proof-reader or two. It’s amazing what one can pick up that another might miss.

  • http://www.sthildas.net Elly Byrne

    Spelling matters. The message can get forgotten because of bad spelling. I was in a conference where the word ‘compliment’ was used instead of ‘complement’. I spent the next 5 minutes wondering about that word. And that is the only thing I remember about the whole presentation. What was the message? No idea.