Spell-check leads to love online

Brett Wortman

Poll

Would bad spelling be the end of your online relationship?

This poll ended on 23 March 2011.

Yes

63%

No

36%

This is not a scientific poll. The results reflect only the opinions of those who chose to participate.

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FORGET the gym or working up a witty pick-up line, hitting spell-check may just be the key to everlasting love.

Online dating and meeting potential partners through dating services are the new and socially accepted roads to love, but like any road there are always potholes waiting to derail the journey.

When it comes to online dating, the biggest pothole is not an unflattering profile picture but a simple inability to grasp the English language.

Queensland University of Technology researcher Dr Zoe Hazelwood, from the School of Psychology and Counselling, has conducted a study looking at online dating.

Dr Hazelwood found traditional and online dating were very similar in some respects and non-verbal communication was just as important in online dating as it was in traditional dating.

“Although online traditional non-verbal cues are not present, in our research we found people do judge potential partners on things aside from what they are saying,” Dr Hazelwood said.

“People form impressions online based on things like spelling errors, use of acronyms, amount of exclamation marks, use of grammar, things like that.

“They may not pursue a relationship with someone if they do not like their writing style, or feel they have poor spelling.”

When it comes to finding a perfect match through a dating agency, South Tweed-based Bridges Nationwide Network owner Joanne Darby said honesty was always the best policy.

“Having bad grammar does not hurt when using a matchmaker, and the most import thing is always just to be honest,” Ms Darby said.

“If you are not being honest then you are just wasting your time.”