I confess to being a spelling freak; it really matters to me. Grammar matters, too, especially punctuation, and bad syntax makes me dizzy. Because I care about these things, I learned to type well very early in life. And I still make mistakes, being human and therefore thoroughly fallible.

In my experience (which is extensive because I'm an editor by trade), most consistently bad spellers are auditory learners, and typically have less than wonderful visual recall. *daylia*'s post includes a list of errors I see every day, and they are all normal mistakes made by "ear" people functioning in an "eye" medium. English is awful for such people because it is so spectacularly irrational and inconsistent, especially for Canadians who have both British and American spelling conventions to confuse them.

So honest spelling mistakes should embarrass you; they're normal.

Carelessness is another matter, however. Is it really so difficult to proof-read and correct your post before hitting the "Submit Message" button? If you're that pressed for time, perhaps you shouldn't be reading the Mudcat at all!