So I started school about two months ago. It’s been a while since I was around large groups of people, so I had forgotten about all the urban myth propagation and straight-up BS that spews out of peoples’ mouths on a day-to-day basis. Students perpetuate myths, and teachers take them as facts without checking on them, and repeat them to all their classes. It’s a pretty sad situation. Even most of my textbooks have factual errors!
At first, I would always correct the people and offer to point them to a website if they wanted to find out more. Some people thanked me, but most gave me dirty looks, as if I’d personally insulted them! What the hell is up with this attitude? Nowadays, I mostly stay silent.
If somebody corrects me, I’m thankful. Why shouldn’t I be? They’re saving me from further embarrassment. Thanks to them, I’ll never make that mistake again.
So, how about you guys? Who likes others setting the record straight for them when they’re providing erroneous information?
I figure every time someone corrects me, I get smarter. I’d rather look stupid briefly than be stupid for a very long time. As long as the correction is made kindly, I’m grateful for it.
Sometimes, though, the corrector can come off sounding gleeful, like they’re trying to make themselves look good by making the other person look bad. Maybe, neutron, this is where you should be careful. I’m not saying that you are being rude, just that people are going to be very sensitive in this situation. Look for a graceful way to phrase things, like “Actually, I heard that this isn’t true. . . perhaps I’m mistaken, but here’s the website where I found the information.” Softening the blow might decrease the impact, and you might cringe at doing it when you know you’re right–but it might cause less resentment, and at least you’ve put the correct information out there, and lovers of truth can make up their own minds.
If I hear something being said that is an urban legend or something else I know to be totally false, I speak up. I’m not rude or anything like that I just offer my humble opinion.
Now if I hear incorrect grammar, pronunciation, or verb tense, I will use the correct form later in the conversation. That is the polite thing to do. To point out that someone is using less than excruciatingly correct and perfect english is just plain rude.
(Ok I tutored college English; I’m still not perfect. That’s what reference books are for.)
Yup, this was the first thing that I thought of when I started getting those looks. I thought about the way I was saying things, and tried to soften them even more than they already were. Didn’t seem to work.
Some people are just overly sensitive about any sort of criticism, constructive or not. So long as you are being careful to avoid sounding snotty, and emphasize that you are trying to be helpful, don’t worry about it.
I for one appreciate it when someone makes an effort to educate me–then again, I am a member of a community dedicated to combating ignorance, so perhaps I am not a typical example.
If people choose to remain ignorant, this is not your problem. Keep fighting the good fight, and don’t let the yo-yos get you down.
Oh, I’m happy to accept reasonable criticism about anything.
My car, however, is quite vain and she will not tolerate any questioning of her abilities. Word to the wise: Do not mock my car. She has a tendency of getting frustrated and running people down in parking lots when they are coming home late in the evening and they least suspect their health might be in danger.
If there was a group of people and you corrected one person in front of the others, that would doubtlessly have causes them some degree of embarassment in fromt of their peers…
Perhaps you should try to correct errors one-on-one to avoid this…
If however, you did correct one on one, and the person still gets upset over it, they might have a problem with they way you presented the correction. Perhaps your tone of voice was a little harsh or insulting without your realization.
The best thing to do is to say something that shows that you used to believe it too, and then you found out it was wrong.
Of course, if you did present it one-on-one with a good tone, the person may just be irrational or something, and should just be avoided.
If your professors present material that is wrong, such as telling you that the coriolis effect directs the water drain in your sink, you can point them to the truth and ask that they make a public correction to the class to avoid it spreading…
I have a friend who gets extremely pissed at me when I tell her whatever urban legend she’s propagating isn’t true. Not because she hates being criticized and feels embarrassed because she’s wrong (she laughs it off when I correct her grammatical errors, just as I laugh it off when she corrects mine), but because she actually prefers to believe the story is true. It blows my mind. Otherwise, she is a totally intelligent, reasonable, cool person.
How often did you correct people? If you correct two people and the instructor in one class on one day, you start to sound like a know-it-all, even if you’re right. Especially if you’re right.
I’ve had pretty much the same experience as neutron star. Even phrasing things as neutrally and impersonally as I could got the same response. Saying “I think that…” first usually got the response, “No, you’re wrong!” So I correct people rarely, or unless I’m asked directly.
I agree completely. For me, feeling stupid (however briefly) is not pleasant. But learning something is definitely worth it.
I think few people like to be corrected. (As Geobabe said, people who come to this board are obviously atypical.) This may contribute to negative responses.
Please tread very gently with your teachers. You’ll run into a few real jerks, but most of them are doing the best they can. They’re underpaid, overworked, and had to spend good money on a lot of worthless “education” courses. And they have feelings, too. (As for textbooks, that’s a whole 'nother subject!)
Isaac Asimov wrote in his memoirs that one day he realized he was not responsible for correcting the ignorance of every person he encountered. This idea has helped me.
It really annoys me to be corrected, on any level about anything. That’s why I try to always preface opinions with such phrases as, “It seems to me that,” or “It’s my opinion that,” or “I think that.”
If I am stating a fact I know is right and somebody tries to contradict me, I will first respond with, “That’s not what I heard [or saw or read, as applicable].” And I’ll give sources. If the person persists, then I’ll just say, “Fine. Then we’ll just have to agree to disagree.”
It’s my feeling that argument as a way of learning can be helpful, while argument as a form of one-upmanship is a complete waste of time, and is not worth wasting time on. In such cases, the people who do that aren’t really listening to you anyway.
That usually tends to be the situation. Most often it’s something somebody said while addressing the entire class. So I address the class to rebut them.
Good point. Depressing, but true. I don’t think I’ve ever corrected more than two people in one day. And you wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve had to bite my lip to stick to that limit.
Most of the teachers I’ve corrected have been very good about it and have informed the class of the truth. They have no idea how much I appreciate that.
I never correct peoples’ grammar. First, it’s pretty rude, especially if you understand what they’re saying. Second, the rules of English grammar are so convoluted, ever-changing, and riddled with exceptions that a grammarian could probably find twenty errors in my correction.
