Blaming it on Brain Freeze

Believe it or not, I’m a stickler for proofreading. And I know that spell check really is our friend. But I’m not perfect or exempt from making errors in my emails and sometimes I don’t adhere to my own rule of getting a second – and even a third – set of eyes to read my stuff before I hit send.

This past week I sent out a reminder to attend the premiere showing of our “Poetry Leaves” video. My postcard said “Thursday, February 25." I quickly received a shout out from an astute reader telling me that February 25 was on Wednesday. How embarrassing.  

So what’s this landscape company’s excuse? At a business expo, I picked up a “home-made” brochure for a local lawn maintenance company.  Now I don’t mean to imply that all marketing materials that are professionally produced are error free, but generally they are double-proofed before they are printed - by the printer and then by the customer as well.

The text in their brochure was all in caps, a pet peeve of mine as it makes the print look like an optical illusion and is hard to read. But still even that did not hide a glaring, and rather humorous, error in the text.

“Our beginnings were humble, one man, one mower, maintaining 50 properties a week. Due to our relaibilty (sic) and attention to detail, customers referred us to their family and friends.”

I’m hoping their service must be more impressive than their proofreading skills.

It can happen to the best of us but if anyone asks, I’ve decided to blame my error on ‘brain freeze’, literally as fallout from the brutal temperatures we’ve endured this winter. Or if that doesn’t go over too big, I can also say it was a test to see who reads my emails. 

And just so you know, I did have this piece proofed by two pros.