In a world where chat lingo and text messaging shorthand have become acceptable means of communication, it’s easy to assume that spelling and grammar no longer matter.

But in business, even a misplaced comma can prove disastrous.

Just ask Rogers Communications Inc., which saw a five-year deal with Aliant Inc. to string cable lines across utility poles in the Maritimes cancelled because of a grammar dispute. According to a Globe and Mail story, Rogers stood to lose $2.13 million because it misread a comma in the contract.

“This is a classic case of where the placement of a comma has great importance,” Aliant told the Globe, after the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission settled the 18-month dispute in 2006 by ruling against the Rogers interpretation of the rules of English.

While the Rogers case is an extreme example of what can happen when a message is miscommunicated — or, in this case, misinterpreted — it is but one of myriad examples of costly errors that are the direct result of poor communication skills.

According to Alex Batchelor, marketing director for Britain’s mail service, “Businesses are losing the goodwill and faith of customers by failing to pay attention to good English.”

A survey commissioned by the Royal Mail in 2005 showed that businesses “can’t even rely on a great offer to win customers if their presentation is substandard.”  The survey showed that nearly three-quarters of all customers (74 per cent) said they would not trust businesses that used poor spelling or grammar. And 30 per cent said they would not buy any product or service from them.

“This study is proof that poor communication really does hit companies where it hurts — and that’s the bottom line,” said Mr. Batchelor in a news release.

The problems, the release said, have been amplified by the failure of companies to invest enough in employees with good spelling and grammar. Of the businesses surveyed, more than half of all employees (56 per cent) relied on computer spell-checks to proof their business documents, without even asking colleagues to proof them a final time.

Could this explain why I have seen menus boasting of lamb “cooked in it’s own juice,” or a bedding store advertising itself as “Cozzy” Coverings, because, according to a spokesman for the company, its signmaker misspelled “Cozy”?  Rather than spend money correcting the problem, the company that advertises itself as a “leading supplier of drapes, sheers, blinds, bedding and accessories” has chosen to carry on business with a spelling mistake in its name.

As the Royal Mail survey above shows, not only can poor communication cost you money in lost customers and sales, it can also hurt your reputation. We all want people talking about our businesses. But not when they’re laughing at us — around the world!

Maria Ford describes Illiterate Businesses as “an unabashed rant  … devoted to showcasing business signs that have punctuation, spelling and/or grammatical errors.” Categories include ads, labels, menus, packaging and storefront signs.

Illiterate Businesses is a small site, but it is attracting fellow grammar and spelling lovers from around the world. Recently, the site showcased Laurence Wall, who had ranted on CBC Radio in Ottawa about a personalized postcard ad he had received from Honda asking: “How are you doing Laurence?”

Mr. Wall made several phone calls to Honda to let the company know that a missing comma between “doing” and “Laurence” had created an unintended sexual innuendo.

 “It was clear that Honda wasn’t at all bothered by the error and didn’t care that it had gone out to thousands of customers,” Mr. Wall wrote.  “What businesses need to do is hire a couple of grammarians to put things right. I’ll wait for pigs to fly across a blue moon first.”

Will Honda lose business because of its missing comma?  Maybe. Maybe not. But it no doubt will lose points in the reputation department after Mr. Wall’s rant.  Who wants to buy something from a company that is not “at all bothered” by its error?

My personal beef is with Mazda. I have vowed never to buy its Protegé, even if it gives the car away, because it has misspelled the word. It should be Protégé.

Petty? Maybe. But I’m not the only one bothered by spelling and grammatical errors. Eats, Shoots & Leaves  — The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, has turned author Lynne Truss into a world celebrity. Before you send out that office e-mail, or write copy for your new website, try out her Eats, Shoots & Leaves Punctuation Game to see how you fare.

Don’t feel bad if you fail.  Even the folks at Britain’s education department have proven they can use professional help when it comes to spelling.  In the most recent high-profile example, the department in 2005 was forced to shell out thousands of dollars to reprint its education white paper, after a slogan was mistakenly spelled “Higer Standards, Better Schools for All.”

In 2000, department officials were left red-faced when teachers called to inform them that new posters sent to all primary schools were riddled with “unforgiveable” errors.  The 48,0000 posters, which had to be reprinted, included the word “vocabulary” spelled as “vocaluary,” and urged children to learn about writing “though their own work.”  The education department blamed the mistakes on “typographical errors.”

A reputation for sloppiness is no way to conduct business.