Britian expects …

Doesn’t everyone love reading stories about other people’s balls-ups!

Well, this one’s a corker, and luckily, we’re not in the frame for this one.

Back in the Spring, planners decided it would be a great idea to include a chocolate bar in a giveaway goodie bag for their Autumn Party Conference.

Goodness knows how much midnight oil was burned as they deliberated on the message they’d want printed on it.

And goodness only knows how many eager understrappers might have checked and rechecked the spelling before they signed off the proof and sent it to press.

Were it not for laser-like scrutiny of the attendant press pack, it might have gone unnoticed.

With a sharp reptilian eye, one was quick to spot the howler on the front of the bar, where Britain had been spelt Britian.

As you can imagine, they didn’t hang around for very long before sharing the find on their news feeds.

After much embarrassment, the remaining bars were quickly hoovered up and whisked away before any more damage could be done.

By then, however, the horse had well and truly bolted, and the story was out.

But it shows how easy it is for your eye to pass over something like this without spotting the error.

Blink and you miss it.

No one is going to kick up too much of a fuss about an aberrant apostrophe in the middle of a passage of text.

But get the big stuff wrong, and you’re toast.

Check, check and check again is the mantra.

Proofreading is a real skill, and if you are not confident in your own abilities, even the humblest word processing packages will do the heavy lifting for you.

Mind how you go …

Until next week.

Alec