Anatarctic spelling

Oh, the irony! In an article on the prospect of rising sea levels as a consequence of global warming, by way of the accelerated meltdown of another Antarctic ice shelf, The Christian Science Monitor drowns its spelling in a tell-tale of our age’s increasing negligence of good publishing practices. Which seem to have fallen out of fashion, mostly and vastly.

This mishap is probably due to the lack of a thorough editing process; and it is a symptom painfully characteristic of the online media’s fast-paced publishing of content in the digital age. Or should I rather call out the industry on its lazy proofreading? Which not only has spread to book publishing, sadly, but also, given the media’s function as communication multipliers, results in one finding after another of deteriorating spelling habits, limited text comprehension and reduced literacy among young readers and digital natives – and ultimately a break with written tradition in Western societies.

CS Monitor misspells

CS Monitor misspells

As if the deluge of misspellings (tantamount to the sea levels rising an additional 4.4 meters by the year 2100 due to the Weddell Sea alone in worst-case scenarios) and the wrecking of both grammar and the world’s unfortified coastlines weren’t enough, though, the article links to a quiz which allows the readers of the Monitor to check their scientific literacy. Hence, even if you should prove as illiterate as an increasing number of media outlets with view to spelling and grammar, you may still make up for it. There is, after all, still some hope willy-nilly amidst all the irony by which this article is fashioned.

Category: Billed, Miscellaneous | Tags: , , , | estienne210 Comment »


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