Spelling Counts

While perusing the Internet for possible summer internships, as I often do with looming deadlines, I came across a posting for an unpaid internship with Social Life Magazine in New York. Being that I am a young, female, socially-savvy city girl, I clicked on the posting. It read:

Social Life Magazine is a luxury and lifestyle magazine about the Hamptons and New York City. We cover events, benefits, parties, and night clubs. We make sure that are readers are up to date with the latest fashion trends as well as any new options that promote a luxurious lifestyle.

At the moment we are looking for amazing people to help grow the magazine.

Position: Associate Editor with potential to become one of the Assistant Editors

So far, sounds good. I suppose I can live with the obvious typo (look closely... you'll catch an "are" instead of an "our" in there), though it makes me cringe. Moving on... after all, to err is human.

Now, as for this internship... I have experience with special event marketing, and I am a student of journalism. Sounds right up my alley. I continued reading:

First and foremost, you need to have a strong sense of grammer. I am looking for someone who is an avid reader and who knows how an article should flow both structurally as well as musically and rhythmically. Your responsibility will be to help edit anywhere from two to ten articles. Being in the New York area is not a necessity since you will not be coming into the office but will be working from home. Therefore, a student at Princeton or Yale can definitely work on articles from their campus dorm. You can come into the office the week before we go to press and help with proofing the magazine but that is not required.

No! It can't be! Another mistake? In an industry that is admittedly (and rightfully) obsessed with stellar written communication skills and acute attention to detail, I was flabbergasted. Let me run it by you once more, in case you didn't catch the glaringly obvious, "First and foremost, you need to have a strong sense of grammer." (Italics mine). I'm not sure that it gets any better than this, and it is in precisely these types of situations that I begin to appreciate the adage that searching for jobs is just as much about finding a place you want to work as it is about finding a company that will hire you. Perhaps I am too harsh, knowing that mistakes happen, especially when it comes to the Internet.

No, strike that. I am appalled, and I find it deliciously funny that this posting attempts to lure Princeton or Yale graduates to participate in the internship program with imperfect prose. I am no Ivy League alumna, but I do have an eye for detail. To make matters worse, if I had been willing to forgive what might very well have been a mere typographical error, I would have reneged upon viewing the magazine's website. The mission statement reads as follows:

Our mission is to dominate the Hamptons and Manhattan market by capturing the reader's attention with engaging profiles, a lavish wedding section, fascinating short stories, and an sophisticated fashion section.

While a typo on an internet posting for internship applicants may be harmless, an error on the official website is inexcusable. Funnier still is that the culprit (the indefinite article an, which in this case refers to the "fashion section") is followed by the adjective "sophisticated." I think the rest is sufficiently self-explanatory.