On his morning walk in the park, Frank Ball stopped to talk to a university professor visiting from Indiana. Discussion about the beautiful crisp morning and rabbits playing in the park led to interest in each other’s work. Frank pulled out his business card.
The professor saw NT Christian Writers on the card and assumed NT stood for “New Testament.” After learning that it stood for “North Texas,” he said, “Yeah, I thought UK stood for the University of Kentucky until I visited the United Kingdom.”
“Do you know what SEO stands for?”
“Don’t tell me.” The professor spent a minute thinking, but his best guess was Standard Executive Officer. His mind never went to the Internet world and Search Engine Optimization.
Consider the following message: Aoccdrnig to a rsceearcehr at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in what order the ltteers in a word are, the olny iprmoetnt thing is that the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can still raed it wouthit a potbelm. This is bcuseae the human mind deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a wlohe.
Sometimes the rules get in the way of effective communication. In that case, yes, an exception is warranted. That’s because “keep your reader’s attention at all cost” is a rule that should never be broken.
