On the Importance of Penmanship and Proofreading

There has lately been a lot of news about a letter sent by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to the mother of a fallen British soldier. The handwritten letter contained many spelling errors, including the spelling of the soldier's name, and is described as illegible*. All of which makes me sigh a great sigh.

On the one hand, Mr. Brown wrote a letter, hand-wrote even, a letter of condolence which is right and proper and makes me very glad; but on the other, the mistakes make him look callow and insincere, and he probably should have had a secretary transcribe it for him. For as long as Mr. Brown has to keep writing condolences {which I hope will not be much longer}, I wish that he would continue to write them by hand. I'm certain he's learned his lesson here, but unfortunately, I'm betting that lesson is to print out form letters and merely attach a signature. Everyone loses in that scenario.

*I can read it quite easily, but then, I've worked for doctors.

Comments

[Stephanie]

I think the only mistake that needs to be corrected is the misspelling of the names. It's disrespectful to address someone incorrectly when you can double-check it. I'd cope with the rest of the mistakes - I mean, he hand wrote a letter of condolence! That's amazing!

[Ashley B]

As someone who is a terrible speller I agree completely with Stephanie-- double and triple check the name but, eh, if you make a few mistakes in a hand written note it adds to the charm. At least, that's what I tell myself.

[Missive Maven]

I agree that the spelling errors just add to the sincerity. As for checking the spelling of the names - yes, it would have been nice, but this is a very busy man here, folks. I daresay I would appreciate this clearly sincere and handwritten letter exponentially more than one typed (probably by a staff member) and signed with a rubber stamp signature. I'm sure the mother is grieving, but this seems like a very kind gesture and it's a shame it's being ripped to shreds.

And, like Donovan, I can read this just fine. People often bemoan the fact that fewer and fewer of us are writing cursive any more - but we forget that fewer and fewer of us can read it. The more handwriting you read, the more you're able to decipher... I guess I read a lot more handwriting than most folks, but I think anyone who spends a few moments trying, instead of just skimming over this, can probably figure it out.

And yes, what a loss the "lesson" of a "correct" typed form letter would be.

[twitter.com/RiverwoodWriter]

Donovan:
Thanks to Inkophile's blog, I just discovered your terrific organization and am delighted to start reading your posts (new and old). I'm learning that there is a whole subculture of folks interested in handwritten notes and letters. I feel so passionately about this topic that I started a Facebook Group called "Revive the art of personal note writing!" (Yes, the irony of an online group for an offline activity did not escape me). I'd love to have you and your readers join us, and I will definitely be telling my members about your organization: http://bit.ly/rJq9h