Let me predicate this column by saying that I understand that sometimes the brain goes faster than the fingers in regards to typing.

I suffer from it sometimes myself.

I’m bad about missing a word here and there. That kind of mistake is hard for me to catch, because when you read something that you’ve written yourself, it sounds exactly like it is supposed to in your head.

However, those mistakes on Facebook are really, really – REALLY – driving me nuts.

I beg, no, implore you on my knees, please take notice of what you write and how you write it. I won’t even touch on the content of these statuses. I just want you to spell all the words in it correctly. Please?

I mean, come on, folks. Those red squiggly lines under the words aren’t there because your status is need of a little color. They’re there because you misspelled a word. Which, incidentally, is an excellent transition to my first point – the huge difference between “they’re” and “their.”

“They’re” is a contraction between “they” and “are.” In a sentence, it should read, “They’re going to the store.”

On the flip side, the word “their” shows possession. For example, “This is their house.”

And along those same lines, neither of those words should be confused with “there,” which designates a place, i.e., “They’re going to their house, which is over there.”

Got it?

Now, for the big one that absolutely makes my skin crawl… “your” versus “you’re.”

Each of these words has similar characteristics of on the variations of “their.”

“Your” shows possession, i.e., “Is this your book?”

“You’re” is a contraction between “you” and “are.” Example: “You’re going to fix those mistakes, aren’t you?”

I won’t harp on “it’s” and “its,” because, quite frankly, I have problem with one sometimes because of that whole “brain works faster than the fingers” thing.

I know I’ll probably get some flak for this, and I hate to sound like an irate English teacher, but these are rudimentary rules that every person who made it through the fourth grade should know.

Nowadays, with text messaging and instant messaging, people are saying a lot more with a lot less words. Communication is critical – be it written or spoken format, and if people get into the habit of accepting mistakes, I think it’s the start of a bad habit.

In this technological age, remember there’s a reason why God created spell check – use it. Please.