In 1999, a time capsule was buried in front of Dallas Hall as part of a student project. When the capsule, which is registered with the international time capsule society, was buried, it had the following inscription:
“The result of a student project, the time capsule includes more than 200 items symoblic of SMU life at the turn of the century.”
Pay close attention to what is written up there. You may notice something funny about the word “symbolic.” Yes, it is misspelled. It was misspelled on the plaque, too. And it went unnoticed for five years.
If you walk up to the plaque today, you might notice that everything is spelled correctly. That is because SMU fixed the typo just a few weeks ago. But the message sent to us from 1999 remains the same; we really need to learn how to spell.
Ed Board is very much pro-spelling. Despite what you may think, spelling is a good thing. Spelling contributes to the effective communication of ideas. Spelling makes you look intelligent. For an example of this, try turning in a resume that is riddled with spelling errors. You will not get the job, and then Ed Board will laugh at you for actually trying it. Ha ha, sucker.
When you set something in stone that is expected to last for many, many years, you proofread it first. Then you proofread it again. And again. And after that, you proofread it again, just for kicks. And after that? You guessed it. Proofread it again. And when you get the final product back, you do the whole thing over again. Don’t put it in public until it’s perfect. This goes doubly for time capsules.
What an example to set for people in the future! “Look at us, future people! We are an elite private university with high standards, but can we spell? Heck no!” And the irony! “Symoblic of SMU life at the turn of the century.” I guess SMU life at the turn of the century means “incapable of spell checking.”
The internet has spoiled us. Anyone who has spent any time on AOL Instant Messenger has probably had a conversation similar to this: “lol so i wuz like no! and he wuz liek, but teh ice creem wil melt!” The number of spelling and grammatical errors in that sentence is mind-boggling, but we hardly notice them anymore. We’re so constantly inundated by bad spelling that small, individual errors fall beneath our attention.
After all, it took five whole years for the word “symbolic” to finally receive the justice it so richly deserves.
