Spelling errors cost big bucks – during Jeopardy AND trade shows
I’ve been particularly interested in Jeopardy lately. I’ll admit, I often turn on the show while folding laundry or cleaning up after dinner, but I always especially like to tune in during “Kid’s Week”, as I can come up with many more correct “Questions” than during the regularly scheduled program.
I happened to be watching when Thomas Hurley III, an 8th grader from Newtown, Connecticut was deep in the hole during Final Jeopardy. He was in 2nd place, and would need a small miracle to beat out reigning champion Skyler Hornback, an American History and Civil War buff, in the category he knew best – The Civil War.
Perhaps you were watching, or maybe you’ve heard – poor Thomas made a spelling error in this final round. While jotting down his response to what “Abraham Lincoln called this document, which took effect in 1863, ‘a fit and necessary war measure.'” Hurley spelled the word “emanciptation” (with an extra “T”). A simple error that anyone, regardless of their age could make – especially under a deadline (that final round music always makes me nervous)! To top it all off, Alex Trebek called him out – telling him he “misspelled it badly”. On top of losing $3000.00 with the incorrect spelling, (he wagered $3,000 of his $9,600 during the Final round) he was also now terribly embarrassed.
As an avid blogger, I am prone to spelling and punctuation errors myself. I just like to get it all down before I forget what I want to say! Needless to say, I felt so awful for little
Thomas. Unfortunately, spelling and punctuation errors happen, and on Jeopardy – there is no spell check to help contestants avoid mistakes like these.
No, we did not produce this sign!
Sometimes I feel we should be playing that Final Jeopardy music as we work with tight deadlines to produce trade show displays and large format printed signs here in our Livonia, Michigan shop. When time is running low to get a display into production, it’s easy to forgo one last round of proofs or having a second set of eyes read all the copy on your display. At GraphiColor, we have a display production team with over 20 years of industry experience – including proofing and inspecting all of your print files before they go to press! One extra “t” cost Thomas about $3000.00 on Jeopardy, and it could also cost your company if a display graphic needs to be reprinted. No matter what you are designing, allow enough time to properly design and proof your print files BEFORE you submit them for production.
I don’t know what would be worse – embarrassed on national TV by Mr. Trebek or facing the wrath of an angry boss with a misspelled display piece! I think I’d choose the latter.
And yes, I did run spell check before publishing this blog post! (PHEW!)
