Bad Spelling Pays on eBay

peebeejay writes "People say that as long as they're understood, spelling is unimportant. These people are unwittingly making others a lot of money online, according to this article in the NY Times (DNA sample and clean boxers required). So, aside from clarity and respect for your reader, there's another good reason to either spell correctly or use a spellchecker: get bidders to find your eBay items and give you their money! Or you can go ahead and see how many people bid on your 'labtop computers,' 'camras,' and 'earings.'"

Comments

you mean....

[hatrisc]

to tell me that they aren't called "labtop" computers? ... you could've fooled my dad.

Re:you mean....

[javatips]

When your healty... they are called laptop...

When you have a cold... they are called labtop.

Re:you mean....

[I Be Hatin']

to tell me that they aren't called "labtop" computers? ... you could've fooled my dad.

Does his labtop have a sloppy disk drive, like my dad's desktop does?

Re:you mean....

[the_mad_poster]

When your healty... they are called laptop...

Heh heh... the bitter irony.

When you're "healty" they must be called "lapop". :-)

Re:you mean....

[Anonymous Coward]

When you have a cold... they are called labtop.

You missbelled labtob, stubid.

Umm...

[SilentT]

Thank you Dr. Obvious...

I check for this on purpose

[Space cowboy]

.. whenever I use ebay, I always try "alternative" spellings of words. Of course, being from the UK, I'm used to spelling things like 'color' incorrectly [its a JOKE!] :-)

Simon

Re:I check for this on purpose

[nuffle]

And is Brittish your British word for British?

Re:I check for this on purpose

[dogbowl]

That was one thing I learned while traveling through Europe. We would inevitable end up meeting/talking with British folks (mainly because they spoke the language) and they would always refer to the French or Dutch as "the Europeans"

Like, "The Europeans have this odd tasting candy" or "The Europeans have some odd TV shows".

At first it threw me for a loop .. I didn't know what they were talking about. I mean .. the British are Europeans with funny tasting candy and silly TV shows too. I didn't know they could detect abnormality among their own kind!

Re:I check for this on purpose

[cloudmaster]

(paraphrasing) I'm an American, but I like to write papers in languages other than American English. I'm suprised when this gets me poor grades in English courses that I'm taking in America.

Adding extrae letteres too wourds jusst tou mayik themm moure impressieve oarr coulourfull iss nout ay goud ideea, even if the brits disagree in *their* english. :) Also, note that, thanks to modern transportational advancements, you could visit Europe regardless of where you live - you don't have to already live there!

Re:I check for this on purpose

[sydb]

Like, "The Europeans have this odd tasting candy" or "The Europeans have some odd TV shows".

They would not say that. We never say "candy", we say "sweets" and we prefer to call "TV shows" "TV programmes".

Also, we wouldn't say "The Europeans"; rather, "the frogs and the krauts".

"The frogs and the krauts have some rather peculiar TV programmes; care for one of their similarly bizarre sweets?"

Mother of Perl???

[Dr. Charles Forbin]

According to the article, Mother of Perl is spelled incorrectly. Shows what they know.

Re:Mother of Perl???

[liquidsin]

Sweet stupid hell! I can buy Larry Wall's wife on ebay?!

Re:Mother of Perl???

[elemental23]

I assumed it was his cat, actually. Everyone knows the first perl script was written when she walked across the keyboard one time.

That said, I'd buy that cat on Ebay if the price was right. She might be able to teach my cats a few things, and I could get them to do all my work for me.

Re:Mother of Perl???

[gotem]

I assumed it was his cat, actually. Everyone knows the first perl script was written when she walked across the keyboard one time.

That makes her a script kitty?

Speiling DOESN'T matter

[Polkyb]

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.

I just got a great deal

[Libertarian_Geek]

You too, can find great deals on Sorny, Magnetbox, JCV, Keenwood. All because the manufacturer didn't spell the name right. (read "knock-offs")
But seriously, now are we going to have people naming their auctions:
Brand New Laptop Labtop Latpod Palpot PC!
?

Works for personal websites too

[daBass]

A friend of mine (whose website I host) is terrible. But at least his pictures of the "rockafella center" get him on the first page of Google! :)

Google has ruined my spelling

[SpaceRook]

I used to be a good speller, but I use Google A LOT. And it is so forgiving that my skills have declined. I expect all programs to know what I mean when I type "Jva prgfamminh boolks". I just kinda hit the keys that basically represent the words I want.

Re:Google has ruined my spelling

[Walterk]

Yuoor seerch - Jva prgfamminh boolks - deed nut metch uny ducooments. Um gesh dee bork, bork!
Nu peges vere-a fuoond cunteeening "prgfamminh".

Sooggesshuns:

- Meke-a soore-a ell vurds ere-a spelled currectly. Bork bork bork!
- Try deefffferent keyvurds. Um gesh dee bork, bork!
- Try mure-a generel keyvurds. Um gesh dee bork, bork!
- Try fooer keyvurds. Um gesh dee bork, bork!

no wonder they're losing

[plams]

unnix licsene for olny $699!!1!

This, my friends...

[Anonymous Coward]

...is why Microsoft could make the claim that people would go to mikerowesoft.com and get confused.

Because people are that fucking stupid.

Re:Shhh!

[Scarblac]

No need for the shhh!, methinks -- the NYT article describes exactly the same thing

Yeah, but no-one reads the article, it was still a secret...

Re:use a search engine spell checker

[rylin]

That'll be 'surprised' :P

I know, I know, sorry :(

Women wearing labtops

[October_30th]

On another note, I wouldn't mind seeing more attractive female lab workers around here wearing snug "labtops"...

Re:Old, old trick.

[Yewbert]

Even got a gemstone or two this way.

Yeah, and that great Rolleks watch, too! What a bargain.

what matters

[Jonny]

From the article:

"On something like eBay though," she said, "it matters.'

On something like The New York Times matching quotation marks don't matter.

(DNA sample and clean boxers required)

[jdcook]

So which is it?

Re:Isn't this?

[Anonymous Coward]

heh... I wonder if wwwslashdot.org is happy for all the hits or pissed becuase they got wwwslashdotted... :)

*blink*

[Daniel]

experts say the Internet -- with its discussion boards, blogs and self-published articles -- is a treasure trove of bad spelling.

They had to ask experts?

Daniel

Pot to Kettle: You are black

[Prien715]

Making money off of mispellings? Slashdot's been doing it for years!

Obligatory Simpson's Quote

[servognome]

Homer: "Look at these low, low prices on famous brand name electronics!"
Bart: "Don't be a sap, Dad. These are just crappy knock-offs."
Homer: "I know a genuine Panaphonics when I see it. And look, there's Magnetbox, and Sorny!"

Re:use a search engine spell checker

[mirko]

His answer? "You go to a store called a bookstore, and you buy something called a dictionary."

Why ?

Re:Oh, the irony...

[XaXXon]

I think I speak for myself when I say..

sHut uP. pLease.

Re:This article is ridiculous

[Junior J. Junior III]

Even more shocking is that the NYT reporter didn't immediately attempt to patent searching for common misspellings as a business method.

Why the fasinatoin with pron sites?

[Uninvited Guest]

Granted, prons are a delicoius, suculent seafod taht many enjoy. But really, they get way too much attentoin here on wwwslashdot.org, and I, for one, just don't understnd why we...

(one moment, someone is trying to tell me...)
(Really? You're sure about that?)

Never mind.

Re:use a search engine spell checker

[erpbridge]

You sure you don't mean this link?

Re:This article is ridiculous

[jazman]

LOL! Priceless - look at the description for http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item =3456315281&category=177

Choice quotes

"I am not lying when I say that this labtop is hands down one of the fastest computers I have ever seen in my entire life. On the other hand, I am also completely clueless when it comes to computers so please bare with me."

Oo-er - are we getting our clothes off together? (It's "BEAR with me")

"keyboard has more buttons than I know what to do with"

"a floppy drive, a CD rom drive, and another drive that I have no clue what to do with"

"And...a rechargable battery"

"some disk that I suppose you'll probably need"

and to top it off "Chances are that you'll probably want to run this computer by a shop and get it cleaned out"

Then he says "if you have any questions email me." Yeah, like he's really going to have a clue amout MHz, GB, serial ports etc. I wouldn't recommend asking anything more difficult than: "What colour is it?"

He also can't spell "I nicked it" - he says "this is not my computer (I'm selling it for a friend)"

But what about the searchers?

[nizo]

But the people searching can't spell either, so wouldn't that even things out?

Dictionary

[Joel Carr]

"When will e-Bay get a spell checker?"

His answer? "You go to a store called a bookstore, and you buy something called a dictionary."

So that's where I've been going wrong!! I always thought it was spelt 'dickshonery'!

---

Re:Oh, the irony...

[sc00p18]

What's up wIAkywBFATW?

Re:Is this some kind of troll??

[tiled_rainbows]

Whoever "explained" that to you was obviously a beardy loon, and either:

1. one of those people who want to declare Essex an Aryan enclave.
2. a schitzophrenic who thought he was King Arthur.
3. Trolling.

Point two reminds me of a time about a year ago when this black guy got on the bus dressed in a blanket and announced to everybody that he was Braveheart, and was engaged in a centuries-long struggle against the English, which none of us would understand, because we were too young.

The real question is...

[HedsSpaz]

...how many of us went to EBay immediately after reading this article and did a search for 'labtop'?

Lay off the NYT

[Call Me Black Cloud]

The registration is free and you don't even need a valid e-mail address. What's with the complaints? The 20 seconds you have to spend *once* to input bogus information is certainly a fair price for the online content of the NYT.

Sheesh. People here would complain if you hung them with a new rope.

Re:feedback loop

[haystor]

The Slashdot crowd is guilty of this as well:

definately
rediculouse
wierd
there instead of their
loose instead of lose

All of these come up on Slashdot alot.

Re:earings!

[Golias]

No... 'Earings are what they 'ave in the 'Ouse of Commons, guv'nor.

Re:Oh, the irony...

[pboulang]

Obviously adding in your parenthetical expression (which is what the text inside these rounded things is called -- are they referred to as bracket expressions elsewhere? (and they can even be nested for no apparent reason (by the way, that question wasn't rhetorical, I really want to know)) solved the problem of smart-ass replies ;)

To be perfectly serious, there is a language called American English. Thank Daniel Webster for pushing for a distinct variant in spellings (Two countries separated by a common language and all that). And since this is slashdot, it is very American leaning (see here for the editorial opinion). Thus, your pre-emptive strike regarding which came first is really a moot point. You write for your audience. Do you use polysyllabic words when addressing toddlers?

While correct, the word spelt just comes across as pretentious. It isn't wrong, but it sounds funny to the ear and is distracting in conversation. Of course, that's just Dennis Miller's opinion, he could be wrong.

Re:Bad spelling works for me

[Hel Toupee]

I almost got a killer deal on a miror universe one time. Some jerk outbid me, though.

Re:use a search engine spell checker

[Unregistered]

but if i can't spell dictioanarie how do i get one off ebay?