# Boyo Jim and other prose Nazis: get the fuck over yourselves. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 15, 2013, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyo-jim-and-other-prose-nazis-get-the-fuck-over-yourselves/658411 "2013-05-15T15:44:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyo-jim-and-other-prose-nazis-get-the-fuck-over-yourselves/658411/21 "2013-05-15T17:21:18Z")
> [@Rachellelogram](#): > > Dorothy Parker was a professional asshole who got paid for her wit. There are only maybe 3 people on the whole board who can get away with this, because they’re incredibly, consistently, intelligently hilarious. If it needs to be said, \*\*Boyo Jim \*\*is not one of them. Oh he is sometimes. They all are sometimes. Like, whasisname, Contrapuntal would piss me off in 9 threads out of 10 and then that last one, he’d have a zinger that made me forget it all. And even Dorothy Parker had misfires. The difference is that they didn’t bother writing them down. But this is all tangential because if you look at what you quoted, you may notice that it’s not in defense of Boyo Jim at all but an explanation as to why he’s being so roundly mocked. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyo-jim-and-other-prose-nazis-get-the-fuck-over-yourselves/658411/22 "2013-05-15T17:39:32Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Scorn’s more fun. Dorothy Parker didn’t build her pithy empire on compliments. But Dorothy Parker did it at the Algonquin with people like Robert Benchley and George Kaufman and Alexander Woollcott. These guys could give it right back to her. Fighting with lions and tigers is one thing but there’s no sport in stomping on kittens. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyo-jim-and-other-prose-nazis-get-the-fuck-over-yourselves/658411/23 "2013-05-15T17:43:41Z")
I don’t think Boyo Jim is a kitten. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyo-jim-and-other-prose-nazis-get-the-fuck-over-yourselves/658411/24 "2013-05-15T17:47:55Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Yeah, but the OP’s point—which I agree with—is that it’s particularly obnoxious to criticize the grammar, spelling, etc. of a newbie’s first post. > > We should be welcoming and hospitable to new posters so that maybe they’ll stick around awhile, and _then_ nitpick them to death. Yeah! I didn’t find the OP of the linked thread all that egregious, either. Sure, it could have been written better, but at this point on the internet, if he didn’t use a lot of L33T speak, used punctuation and capitalization, and didn’t spell it, “Alot,” I’ll take it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyo-jim-and-other-prose-nazis-get-the-fuck-over-yourselves/658411/25 "2013-05-15T17:48:40Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Scorn’s more fun. Dorothy Parker didn’t build her pithy empire on compliments. You mean men _do_ make passes at girls who are asses? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyo-jim-and-other-prose-nazis-get-the-fuck-over-yourselves/658411/26 "2013-05-15T17:51:05Z")
Are, have, let’s not quibble over verbs. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyo-jim-and-other-prose-nazis-get-the-fuck-over-yourselves/658411/27 "2013-05-15T18:07:59Z")
You want to see who doesn’t have enough fiber in their diet, just post something in text speak. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyo-jim-and-other-prose-nazis-get-the-fuck-over-yourselves/658411/28 "2013-05-15T18:12:26Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > I agree with you, it’s mean. And also pointless. And generally speaking, it leaves a really bad taste in my mouth when anyone belittles another for either their intelligence or their lack of education. This is one of the most irritating things about the Dope. And it was an odd OP to complain about. I mean, I have an English degree, and that didn’t even set off the “ENGLISH LANGUAGE THREATENED. ALERT! ALERT!” bells for me. Seemed like a perfectly copacetic OP. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyo-jim-and-other-prose-nazis-get-the-fuck-over-yourselves/658411/29 "2013-05-15T18:23:22Z")
We are the smartest people on the internet and we must make sure that the rest of the internet knows that. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyo-jim-and-other-prose-nazis-get-the-fuck-over-yourselves/658411/30 "2013-05-15T18:25:10Z")
I’m not very smart but I’m really good looking. That’s why they let me post here. ---
**Author:** ![emcee2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emcee2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emcee2k)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyo-jim-and-other-prose-nazis-get-the-fuck-over-yourselves/658411/31 "2013-05-15T18:28:45Z")
Apparently, I need to take an English composition class as well, because I can’t figure out what’s wrong with that OP. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyo-jim-and-other-prose-nazis-get-the-fuck-over-yourselves/658411/32 "2013-05-15T18:35:43Z")
**Boyo Jim** was complaining about the OP’s _story-telling skills_, not their grammar. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyo-jim-and-other-prose-nazis-get-the-fuck-over-yourselves/658411/33 "2013-05-15T18:40:31Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I guess that’s the ideal. But it seems like if you don’t come into the board bowing and scraping then that’s the treatment you’ll get. I assumed the idea was to make sure new members were up the abuse that would eventually be heaped upon them no matter what they do. I know I was read the riot act when I first got here, but I deserved it so it was all good ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyo-jim-and-other-prose-nazis-get-the-fuck-over-yourselves/658411/34 "2013-05-15T18:44:43Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > **Boyo Jim** was complaining about the OP’s _story-telling skills_, not their grammar. I’m apparently fucking blind. You’re absolutely right. He wasn’t complaining about grammar or spelling skills. But I also don’t think that OP’s story-telling skills were particularly egregious to be pointed out. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyo-jim-and-other-prose-nazis-get-the-fuck-over-yourselves/658411/35 "2013-05-15T18:54:41Z")
You’re not a true grammar Nazi until you call yourself a grammar Nazi while interviewing for a communications position at a Jewish community center. Of course, that’s, uh, just a hypothetical situation. It never happened to me. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyo-jim-and-other-prose-nazis-get-the-fuck-over-yourselves/658411/36 "2013-05-15T19:00:35Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > I’m not very smart but I’m really good looking. That’s why they let me post here. Ah, so _you’re_ the one! > [@pulykamell](#): > > I’m apparently fucking blind. You’re absolutely right. He wasn’t complaining about grammar or spelling skills. But I also don’t think that OP’s story-telling skills were particularly egregious to be pointed out. His sentences were a bit fragmentary and choppy - they didn’t have a harmonious flow. As I said earlier, in the internet grand scheme of things, BFD. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyo-jim-and-other-prose-nazis-get-the-fuck-over-yourselves/658411/37 "2013-05-15T19:03:32Z")
Oooh, that post by Boyo Jim had me crrrringing with secondhand embarrassment! I love a good cringe, man. Perfectly good OP… I’m actually embarrassed for ALL of us dopers. Boyo embarrassed us all. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyo-jim-and-other-prose-nazis-get-the-fuck-over-yourselves/658411/38 "2013-05-15T19:03:43Z")
Apropos of nothing but every composition teacher I’ve ever had frowned upon the use of words like choppy or flow in the critiquing process. It’s like telling someone who missed a lay-up to throw better. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyo-jim-and-other-prose-nazis-get-the-fuck-over-yourselves/658411/39 "2013-05-15T19:04:41Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Ah, so _you’re_ the one! > > His sentences were a bit fragmentary and choppy - they didn’t have a harmonious flow. As I said earlier, in the internet grand scheme of things, BFD. And as I would say, they sounded conversational to me. He’s not writing a novel, he’s posting on a message board (and even if he were writing a novel, it might be appropriate given the tone he wanted to convey.) Nothing about the style to me screamed “must be pointed out by a pedant!” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyo-jim-and-other-prose-nazis-get-the-fuck-over-yourselves/658411/40 "2013-05-15T19:06:26Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Apropos of nothing but every composition teacher I’ve ever had frowned upon the use of words like choppy or flow in the critiquing process. It’s like telling someone who missed a lay-up to throw better. 🙂 Thanks for pointing that out. “Flow” is such a shitty/inexact word to use when critiquing prose. It means, essentially, whatever the hell the author/reader wants it to mean. It is devoid of content. (ETA: And I’m sure I’ve used it myself before. But it’s still a meaningless descriptor.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyo-jim-and-other-prose-nazis-get-the-fuck-over-yourselves/658411.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyo-jim-and-other-prose-nazis-get-the-fuck-over-yourselves/658411.md?page=3)