# Do you correct people a lot? What's your motivation? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 4, 2024, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-people-a-lot-whats-your-motivation/1009660 "2024-11-04T10:47:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2024, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-people-a-lot-whats-your-motivation/1009660/101 "2024-11-09T11:29:36Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > “Daughters’ English,” of course. So I can correct myself. With the ambiguity inherent in “they” as 3rd person gender-nonspecific singular or 3rd person gender-undefined plural, your apostrophe placement was perfectly cromulent for all of us who don’t know how many daughter(s) you have. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2024, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-people-a-lot-whats-your-motivation/1009660/102 "2024-11-09T23:13:53Z")
Just what i was thinking. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2024, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-people-a-lot-whats-your-motivation/1009660/103 "2024-11-10T17:49:25Z")
What an odd word ‘cromulent’ is! From the sound of it, you’d expect it meant something negative, like, say, crummy or crapulous. 🙂 Apparently it was created as a joke for a 1996 Simpsons episode, according to Merriam Webster. Just an aside, not intended as a hijack! ---
**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:** [November 10, 2024, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-people-a-lot-whats-your-motivation/1009660/104 "2024-11-10T21:20:30Z")
Verily the Simpsons have embiggened our vocabulary! ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2024, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-people-a-lot-whats-your-motivation/1009660/105 "2024-11-10T22:42:29Z")
I might be tempted to say embuggered? ‘Cromulent’ to me sounds more like a medical problem: eg ‘that hot curry really gave me a cromulent stomach’… 😉 Ah well, there is no ‘Academie Anglaise’ trying to standardize English… As Humpty Dumpty said: “When I use a word, it **means** just what I choose it to **mean** ”… No offense to anyone, just a joke. I think I’ll drop it now! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2024, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-people-a-lot-whats-your-motivation/1009660/106 "2024-11-10T23:11:21Z")
FYI … We here on the Dope love to use “cromulent” to tweak the nose of fussy English language pedants who think their 4th grade teacher in 1962 was the Ultimate Arbiter of correct English usage. Bushisms are another fertile source of nose-tweaking around here. Do not misunderestimate the power of a well-chosen Bushism to advance your argument. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-people-a-lot-whats-your-motivation/1009660/107 "2024-11-11T09:54:12Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > “People who have earned the right to be shirty about being on the receiving end of cultural imperialism,” and Brits aren’t showing up _anywhere_. What does one do to earn this right, and is it even a right if it has to be earned? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-people-a-lot-whats-your-motivation/1009660/108 "2024-11-11T10:03:45Z")
Just for fun… Miscorrection of the day today (on a video where I opened a mains power supply of terrible quality and discussed the internals, which appear to include a transformer, but only a half-wave rectifier): ‘The full bridge rectifier can be pre-transformer just fine. **Transformers can do DC/DC conversion** ’ ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-people-a-lot-whats-your-motivation/1009660/109 "2024-11-11T11:48:08Z")
Clearly someone who doesn’t know the difference between “transformer” as “Two coils of lots of fine wire joined by a metal armature operating on magnetic principles” and “transformer” as “Black plastic box with an input and output wire and operating by magick about which I have no ken.” It’s a shame that back in the 1950s we took to colloquially describing our power converter boxes as “transformers” based on the specific tech of the largest single active component inside. So now we’re left with “transformers” that in fact have no transformers inside them at all. Then again, yesterday I dialed my cellphone to call someone. The tech language of the common man lives on far past the point it becomes technologically (and therefore linguistically-technically) obsolete. Whaddayagonnado? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-people-a-lot-whats-your-motivation/1009660/110 "2024-11-11T12:04:45Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Clearly someone who doesn’t know the difference between “transformer” as “Two coils of lots of fine wire joined by a metal armature operating on magnetic principles” and “transformer” as “Black plastic box with an input and output wire and operating by magick about which I have no ken.” No, they did, because they were talking about the function of various components on the PCB that was inside the black box when I opened it (the diode rectification being another part). They just somehow failed to learn the first thing everyone learns about inductors. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-people-a-lot-whats-your-motivation/1009660/111 "2024-11-11T12:07:36Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > When I hear or read something that’s wrong I feel an almost physical hurt, I used to try and correct everybody but with time and maturity I realized I was just pissing people off, so now I try to refrain from correcting anybody (with clenched teeth) To do this requires the ability to recognize a personal defect and the desire to change. Bonus points for the ability to see things from the other side. For each person who graduates to this new elevated plane of existence (such as you have), new people are born who add to the pool of folks who can’t imagine why their pearls of wisdom could possibly be unwelcome. Hence the source of these annoying comments is constantly replenished. Now, if the debate is over the correct welding rod and current to use in a particular critical weld a guy is actively working on in a nuclear power plant, and you know for certain he is headed for disaster, perhaps it’s worth speaking up and having a vigorous exchange of words. Otherwise, pedantic stuff not related to the subject at hand can be gracefully ignored. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-people-a-lot-whats-your-motivation/1009660/112 "2024-11-11T12:12:49Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > They just somehow failed to learn the first thing everyone learns about inductors. I was hoping to be charitable. Instead you’ve proven that they’ve proven they’re as ignorant as a post. I suppose I should have known better than to assume the best about a fellow human. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-people-a-lot-whats-your-motivation/1009660/113 "2024-11-11T12:38:55Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > What does one do to earn this right, and is it even a right if it has to be earned? I suspect the joke–referencing the fact that Great Britain has enacted far more cultural imperialism than it’s suffered–fell flat. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-people-a-lot-whats-your-motivation/1009660/114 "2024-11-11T14:02:23Z")
Fair enough. It has been quite a long time (forever, in fact) since I personally perpetrated any such acts. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-people-a-lot-whats-your-motivation/1009660/115 "2024-11-11T14:14:36Z")
I was responding to @LSLGuy who AIUI was saying that the Brits who are hypercorrecting you are doing so in response to cultural imperalism, and was making light of that. Don’t mean to go down a rabbit hole about it. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-people-a-lot-whats-your-motivation/1009660/116 "2024-11-11T15:24:31Z")
Understood, sorry. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-people-a-lot-whats-your-motivation/1009660/117 "2024-11-11T15:57:51Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > **Transformers can do DC/DC conversion** ’ You’d think that anyone who at least knew the term ‘full bridge rectifier’ would know enough to avoid a howler like that. Are you sure they weren’t pulling your leg? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-people-a-lot-whats-your-motivation/1009660/118 "2024-11-11T17:00:20Z")
Don’t think so (although you never can truly tell) - they had a fair bit to say about all the other components, most of which was correct or obvious, just completely wrong on fact 1 about inductors. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-people-a-lot-whats-your-motivation/1009660/119 "2024-11-11T22:23:58Z")
It depends on the circumstances and the audience. Sometimes it can be the only way to preserve one’s dignity in the face of adversaries: Every time Galadriel said “Orcs” to Adar, he corrected her: “_Uruk_.” (He might well have said “That’s _Mister Uruk_ to you!”) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-people-a-lot-whats-your-motivation/1009660/120 "2024-11-12T21:58:27Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Verily the Simpsons have embiggened our vocabulary! [Menawhile, quzybuk has entirely failed to catch on.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHw4_oPJ6s8) It’s a genuine duketastrophe. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-people-a-lot-whats-your-motivation/1009660.md?page=5)