Offline and Online, Poor Spelling “Spells” Trouble for Men Looking for Love

Is grammar a game changer for people who are looking for love?

Imagine you’re sitting at a bar and an attractive stranger passes you a hastily scribbled note on a napkin. In addition to that person’s phone number, the note includes one of the following messages:

Its destiny that we met.

UR my soul mate.

Your beautiful.

Their isn’t a doubt in my mind that we will spend the rest of our lives together.

Although we’re generally fans of the handwritten letter, the Grammarly team is sticklers for spelling. So, we asked nearly 650 of our Facebook fans for their opinion on which of the mistakes above would be the most offensive on a bar napkin love note. Can you guess which spelling slipups are the worst?

Prefer to avoid the bar scene? New research from eHarmony and Grammarly suggests that poor spelling is also detrimental to men who are looking for love online:

• Spelling errors in a man’s online dating profile damage his prospects significantly. Poor spelling by a woman, on the other hand, does not seem to have any impact on her chances of a positive love match.
• Women are sloppier writers in their online dating profiles. Women make nearly twice as many grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors per 100 words than men in their online dating profiles.
• Men don’t “sell themselves short” in online dating profiles. While men are usually the more succinct writers, they tend to be wordier than women in their responses to questions in online dating profiles.

Check out our recent press release about this data for a full methodology.

Has an unfortunate spelling mistake ever cost you an otherwise promising relationship? Share your story in the comments!