I have noticed that when I tell people I’m an editor in social settings, the most common default reaction for the other party is to immediately admit to being bad at spelling. Usually in a defensive way, as if we need to preemptively get that out of the way before we can be friendly because there will be nothing worse in the world to a professional editor than bad spelling.
The truth of the matter, though, is I actually think that being bad at spelling is just that. It’s not a deep-seated character flaw or a sign of low intelligence or even of poor education. In the same way that some people naturally spell well, some people just don’t. That’s what I learned when I worked as a college comp instructor and, before that, a college writing tutor.
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