# Is there a name for this law? (spelling nitpick will itself contain spelling mistake)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-law-spelling-nitpick-will-itself-contain-spelling-mistake/316099>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 8, 2005, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-law-spelling-nitpick-will-itself-contain-spelling-mistake/316099 "2005-08-08T10:46:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2005, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-law-spelling-nitpick-will-itself-contain-spelling-mistake/316099/1 "2005-08-08T10:46:50Z")

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I’ve done it, _again_ - this time not in an Internet forum but in an e-mail to a colleague. As I have observed this phenomenon so often - with others as well with myself - I assume there _must_ be a canonical name for this law/rule:

**A message criticising someone else’s spelling or grammar will humiliate its originator by containing a glaring spelling/grammar mistake itself**

So, what’s that law called?

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**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2005, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-law-spelling-nitpick-will-itself-contain-spelling-mistake/316099/2 "2005-08-08T11:02:32Z")

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Well, on the SDMB, it’s Gaudere’s Law. Apparently it’s known elsewhere as [Skitt’s Law](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skitt's_law) and [Tober’s Lor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tober%27s_Lor).

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**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2005, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-law-spelling-nitpick-will-itself-contain-spelling-mistake/316099/3 "2005-08-08T19:35:56Z")

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The first use appears to be this from Usenet:

> [@](#):
>
> Newsgroups: alt.sex  
> From: b…@vangogh.cs.unc.edu (Andrew Bell) - Find messages by this author  
> Date: 15 May 90 02:30:30 GMT  
> Local: Mon,May 14 1990 10:30 pm  
> Subject: Re: Stories and writing quality.
> 
> Bell’s First Law of USENET: Flames of spelling and/or grammar will  
> have spelling and/or grammatical errors.

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**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-law-spelling-nitpick-will-itself-contain-spelling-mistake/316099/4 "2005-08-10T06:17:44Z")

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I personally observed this (just for spelling) a long time ago. I thought I’d posted it on Usenet back in the '80s under the name Tilque’s Law, but Google Groups doesn’t have it. Not that that means much, as I understand there are gaps in Google’s Usenet archives from those days. I also doubt if I was the first to make such an observation.