Okay, so you are typing out an email to a prospective buyer about what the roofer, who inspected the home in question, said about “the paint on the soffits that was sloughing off.”

The only problem is that he told you this over the phone and you are not sure if soffit is spelled “soffit” or “soffet” when it is written out. And while you kinda know what it is, what precisely IS a soffit?

Additionally, how do you spell “sloughing” or “sluffing” or “slughing,” and what, exactly, does paint do when it “sluffs” or “sloughs”?

Yes, your e-mail spell-checker says “soffit” is okay, but the spell-checker is naturally limited and does not do well with homonyms. So you can never be 100 percent sure of spell checker results.

What do you do? You save the day by going to one of several online dictionaries that will answer your every spelling or word usage need.

Here are the two dictionaries I like best:

Dictionary.com is a dictionary search service produced by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC, a leading provider of language reference products and services on the Internet.

M-W.com is a service of Merriam-Webster, a long-time dictionary firm which even gives you a free dictionary tool bar that you can add to the inside top frame of your web browser with just a few clicks. They will also give you a free dictionary search box to put onto your Web site.

Both sites offer thesaurus and reference searches and links to encyclopedias. Both offer a premium service for paid members, but their free service is sufficient for everyday business use.

I subscribe to Merriam-Websters “Vocabulary Word of the Day” which you can get e-mailed daily to you. Dictionary.com has the same service.

Why subscribe to emailed “Words of the day” like these? Because it is good for you and for your career. The more “exact words” that we know---both how to spell them and what, precisely, they mean, the more our intelligence quotient (I.Q.) is raised. Not only that, we will even sound more intelligent to everyone with whom we speak. And that can make a big difference when competing with other agents in face-to-face homeowner presentations for listings.

All things being equal, the seller may choose the agent who seems to be the smartest. And one way “smart” is manifested is by “how” we talk---how we string together ideas, and how precise we are in the caliber of words that we use to express our ideas. That is why “vocabulary” is a large part of most intelligence tests.

Using or spelling words incorrectly may be a mark of ignorance, or lack of attention, carelessness. Whichever, it still reflects badly on you.

Using the completely wrong word in place of a correct word is called a malapropism. Dictionary.com says that a malapropism is a “ludicrous misuse of a word, especially by confusion with one of similar sound.” It can also be an example of such misuse.

See for yourself at: http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=malapropism&r=2. Using these readily available, free online dictionary resources can be good for your business. They might even be a panacea. Single people can use correct vocabulary words to impress and woo members of the opposite sex.

• You will no longer feel ashamed to compose emails to your Ph.D. uncle.
• Your office mates and manager will look at you with a new, more respectful eye.
• Your kids will barely notice or care since they already think you are old, square, and “out of it.”
• But your clients will realize that you are a person of impeccable precision, blessed with the benefits of intelligence, education, and good breeding.

Well, maybe having a good vocabulary won't do quite all that, but it can mollify plenty of other things that you do wrong in your e-mails. Now, give it a try.

Go look up “mollify” right here

Published: June 2, 2003

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Bill Koelzer is a Web marketing consultant to web-proficient agents nationwide. He is co-author, with Barbara Cox, Ph.D., of the Prentice-Hall books, Internet Marketing in Real Estate and Internet Marketing. Bill is also webmaster of Orange County Real Estate, among the most-awarded known Realtor® sites. Visit his website, Koelzer.com or e-mail him at .