Grammar Police - A plea

[Anonymous]

IDK. I never point out grammar or spelling mistakes, but I'm grateful for those who do. I would want to know if I was making the same mistakes over and over again. I don't much care on message boards/forums, but what about in the professional world? If I was using the wrong there/their/they're, I would hope someone would tell me, so that I could learn the correct one.

That's just my opinion, though.

[Anonymous]

Pointing out the foibles of others makes me feel better about my own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Study: People who point out typos are jerks

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2016/03/study-people-who-point-out-typos-are-jerks/

A sweeping study of 83 whole people!

Researchers gathered 83 people

Details and facts are a waste of time and usually don't conform to my narrative. They're petulant.

Do you know what petulant means? It doesn't really work here.

[Anonymous]

I once worked with a guy who would interrupt someone talking to point out their grammar mistakes. And then he wondered why no one liked him.

[Anonymous]

I'd like to be corrected if I'm saying something wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I once worked with a guy who would interrupt someone talking to point out their grammar mistakes. And then he wondered why no one liked him.

Well that is a real jerkface thing to do.

When folks are talking in casual conversation, it is, in my opinion, beyond rude to correct them. Often times our word choice, dialect, and other language affectations result from culture/upbringing. Perfect example - PP who said she doesn't like the use of "y'all." Where I'm from, this is frequently used in casual conversation. Would I use this word in a formal paper or cover letter? Of course not. But certainly I use it when talking to my family/friends from "back home" because I feel it's part of my identity. When you correct a person's grammar in the way you describe above, in a way it's criticizing a person's identity (I'm not pulling this out of my ass - we learned this in linguistics class in college).

Proper grammar and mechanics are tools that we utilize in appropriate situations or at appropriate times. It doesn't mean we all have to run around being grammar Nazis 24/7.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Study: People who point out typos are jerks

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2016/03/study-people-who-point-out-typos-are-jerks/

A sweeping study of 83 whole people!

Researchers gathered 83 people

Details and facts are a waste of time and usually don't conform to my narrative. They're petulant.

Do you know what petulant means? It doesn't really work here.

Yes. I do. And details like that are childish and bad-tempered. They don't agree with what I want them to say.

Thanks for asking, though!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you can understand the poster's intent, for the love of all that is good, would you please let it go? I cringe when I notice a mistake in an otherwise interesting post because now I'll have to wade through all the posts about the grammar that don't address the actual subject. Those are boring posts, y'all. Let. It. Go. The people who care already noticed the mistake and the ones that don't care, don't need to see the correction. If you must, print it out and use your red pen.

Don't you want people to help you get better at it?

If not in this anonymous forum, when and where will you have such of obvious chance to improve?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you can understand the poster's intent, for the love of all that is good, would you please let it go? I cringe when I notice a mistake in an otherwise interesting post because now I'll have to wade through all the posts about the grammar that don't address the actual subject. Those are boring posts, y'all. Let. It. Go. The people who care already noticed the mistake and the ones that don't care, don't need to see the correction. If you must, print it out and use your red pen.

Don't you want people to help you get better at it?

If not in this anonymous forum, when and where will you have such of obvious chance to improve?

Not here, no! I'm not particularly careful when I post here, so I don't need your corrections. Also, many people doing the "correcting" have errors in their own posts. This is not the place for that. Also, so many of the mistakes are just obvious typos or autocorrect errors. If you want to improve your skills, pick up a copy of Strunk & White or something, don't come to DCUM. Do you people actually think you're helping?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I once worked with a guy who would interrupt someone talking to point out their grammar mistakes. And then he wondered why no one liked him.

Well that is a real jerkface thing to do.

When folks are talking in casual conversation, it is, in my opinion, beyond rude to correct them. Often times our word choice, dialect, and other language affectations result from culture/upbringing. Perfect example - PP who said she doesn't like the use of "y'all." Where I'm from, this is frequently used in casual conversation. Would I use this word in a formal paper or cover letter? Of course not. But certainly I use it when talking to my family/friends from "back home" because I feel it's part of my identity. When you correct a person's grammar in the way you describe above, in a way it's criticizing a person's identity (I'm not pulling this out of my ass - we learned this in linguistics class in college).

Proper grammar and mechanics are tools that we utilize in appropriate situations or at appropriate times. It doesn't mean we all have to run around being grammar Nazis 24/7.

I agree with you and I believe that DCUM is casual conversation.

[Anonymous]

Every time you may a typo, the errorists win.

Homophone misuse is my pet peeve. I saw a game at Verizon Center years ago. I have no idea if it was hockey or basketball. All I can remember is reading "We can't here you!" on the Jumbotron.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you can understand the poster's intent, for the love of all that is good, would you please let it go? I cringe when I notice a mistake in an otherwise interesting post because now I'll have to wade through all the posts about the grammar that don't address the actual subject. Those are boring posts, y'all. Let. It. Go. The people who care already noticed the mistake and the ones that don't care, don't need to see the correction. If you must, print it out and use your red pen.

Don't you want people to help you get better at it?

If not in this anonymous forum, when and where will you have such of obvious chance to improve?

Not here, no! I'm not particularly careful when I post here, so I don't need your corrections. Also, many people doing the "correcting" have errors in their own posts. This is not the place for that. Also, so many of the mistakes are just obvious typos or autocorrect errors. If you want to improve your skills, pick up a copy of Strunk & White or something, don't come to DCUM. Do you people actually think you're helping?

Lady, the point is how to improve YOUR skills! Do YOU have a copy of Strunk & White?

Perhaps you should work on your reading comprehension first.

[Anonymous]

I like the grammar police. It's a skill that's disappearing unless they help us rain it in!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Not here, no! I'm not particularly careful when I post here, so I don't need your corrections. Also, many people doing the "correcting" have errors in their own posts. This is not the place for that. Also, so many of the mistakes are just obvious typos or autocorrect errors. If you want to improve your skills, pick up a copy of Strunk & White or something, don't come to DCUM. Do you people actually think you're helping?

If you want to improve your skills, picking up a copy of Strunk & White will not help you achieve your goal.

I, personally, am very fond of autocorrect errors, mondegreens, and malaprops, but I rarely point them out. I also like to think about the implications of the word "literally" when somebody uses it to mean something other than "really and truly". Everybody gets to have hobbies, and that's one of mine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you can understand the poster's intent, for the love of all that is good, would you please let it go? I cringe when I notice a mistake in an otherwise interesting post because now I'll have to wade through all the posts about the grammar that don't address the actual subject. Those are boring posts, y'all. Let. It. Go. The people who care already noticed the mistake and the ones that don't care, don't need to see the correction. If you must, print it out and use your red pen.

Don't you want people to help you get better at it?

If not in this anonymous forum, when and where will you have such of obvious chance to improve?

Not here, no! I'm not particularly careful when I post here, so I don't need your corrections. Also, many people doing the "correcting" have errors in their own posts. This is not the place for that. Also, so many of the mistakes are just obvious typos or autocorrect errors. If you want to improve your skills, pick up a copy of Strunk & White or something, don't come to DCUM. Do you people actually think you're helping?

Lady, the point is how to improve YOUR skills! Do YOU have a copy of Strunk & White?

Perhaps you should work on your reading comprehension first.

Goodness. Have you ever heard of the use of the word 'you' to mean a general 'you'? Let me clarify. I meant, if one wants to improve her skills, that person should pick up (and yes, read) a book that would help. One should not come to an anonymous casual forum such as this and believe whatever she is told about her grammar. Many of the corrections here are wrong; most are unnecessary.