Dizzy Spell

From the Dear Abby column in yesterday's local paper:

Dear Abby: I have a sister-in-law, "Mary". We have known each other for years. Mary lives in California, but she often sends us e-mail, and each time she does she always misspells my name as "Ritha". (My name is Rita!) I have tried pointing this out, but she continues to do it. How can I make it clear my name is spelt Rita without appearing too rude?

Dear Rita: Because you have already spoken to your sister-in-law about it, you might be able to get your message across if you start spelling her name "Marye" or "Marey". Or, you can decide that what's in the message is more important than how your name is "spelt". I recommend the latter.

Dear Abby, or some typesetter somewhere along the way, assuming anyone still employs a typesetter, which they probably don't, thinks that "spelt" is a misspelling, when a few seconds' Internet research would have shown them differently. I don't know which is worse: putting quotations around the word to signal to the world that you think the writer made a spelling mistake in a letter about spelling, thereby theoretically humiliating them, or being wrong about that and being too lazy to do the research. Either way, it's shameful.