Long ago, when I had to walk five miles uphill both ways to school and rapid communications were made by Pony Express, in the era when “spell-check” was not part of even the most sophisticated computer geek’s vocabulary, and locating a latte was something done only in Italy, I learned the value of proofreading.
Now, however, it is an elementary matter to allow such habits to skid into disuse, particularly as my Computer (see, there it goes again, capitalizing itself, when I really meant to have it appear in lower case) will alert me by placing a narrow red line underneath any word it fails to recognize. This feature makes placing case citations in briefs a riveting visual experience. Cautionary tales of communications fired off in the heat of passion or the agony of ennui containing amusing or humiliating errors have proliferated on the Internet and as urban legend.
