# Minor Puncuation/grammar errors on SDMB
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-puncuation-grammar-errors-on-sdmb/176395
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [May 20, 2003, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-puncuation-grammar-errors-on-sdmb/176395 "2003-05-20T21:25:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@samarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samarm)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-puncuation-grammar-errors-on-sdmb/176395/21 "2003-05-27T03:01:54Z")
djf750: This OP coulda been written specifically for you! 🙂
Fuel: I totally agree. There is nothing more annoying than people picking you up on every little spelling error. They seem to think it proves they are smarter than you.
---
### Author:  [@lorinada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorinada)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-puncuation-grammar-errors-on-sdmb/176395/22 "2003-05-27T03:07:36Z")
Because my brother was always way too quick to correct my younger sister’s mistakes, and my brother was always insecure and self-important, this colors my opinion of people, on the board or elsewhere, who are always smugly pointing out others’ errors. I try not to do it unless a person’s post really needs clarification, and then I try to do it in a way that does not look like I am ridiculing or seeming superior. But even then, I am so shy about doing it, I will usually just move on to another post or wait until someone else posts in hopes that they will inadvertently clarify the OP for me.
Anyway, this rambling reply, believe it or not, is answering your assertion, **Fuel** , that there is no logical reason to point out a minor error. I agree with you, unless actual clarification is needed (which is seldom when it is a minor error) and that the reason people do it is to feel superior. But, that’s just MHO, YMMV.
---
### Author:  [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-puncuation-grammar-errors-on-sdmb/176395/23 "2003-05-27T03:45:52Z")
I am of the opinion that if one can understand a post well enough to correct it, then the post is, indeed, understood well enough, and the correction is therefore unnecessary.
---
### Author:  [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2003, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-puncuation-grammar-errors-on-sdmb/176395/24 "2003-05-28T00:26:13Z")
Thanks for clarifying, **Fuel**. FWIW, while I think you should make effort to make sure your posts don’t contain errors, I agree that it’s rude to point out and make fun of minor errors. You can point out errors in a nice way, but that doesn’t mean you should.
---
### Author:  [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2003, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-puncuation-grammar-errors-on-sdmb/176395/25 "2003-05-28T01:40:04Z")
The corrections by the grammarians are always more distracting to me than the initial error. Often the corrections themselves contain errors.
We shouldn’t assume that the person posting lives under the rules of punctuation that we are taught. In America, for example, periods and commas go within the quotation marks. My understanding is that that is not always true in Great Britain.
My spelling seems to grow worse every year. Other women of my age claim that it is because of hormonal changes. Maybe so.
I don’t think that the way a person writes is necessarily a reflection of her or his intelligence. (Thomas Edison was dyslexic.) It is more likely to be a matter of priorities or ignorance of standard practice.
I make corrections when others are being very corrective themselves or snotty to someone else. I spent twenty years teaching English and I _still_ make mistakes through carelessness. Why don’t we cut each other some slack? Humiliation is not the best way to teach anyway.
---
### Author:  [@Fuel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuel)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2003, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-puncuation-grammar-errors-on-sdmb/176395/26 "2003-05-28T22:20:47Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Fuel \*
>
> I guess people don’t realize that it is a form of disrespect to point out a silly error. Would you point out the misuse of a word by your father-in-law at a dinner party, or even on the golf course, or anywhere for that matter? But, because we are on a MB, people think it’s different?
>
> \*\*
---
### Author:  [@yawndave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yawndave)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2003, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-puncuation-grammar-errors-on-sdmb/176395/27 "2003-05-29T18:02:39Z")
I made a spelling error on my most recent post. Then I came to this tread…:smack:
---
### Author:  [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2003, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-puncuation-grammar-errors-on-sdmb/176395/28 "2003-05-29T18:33:03Z")
What about consistent errors like “alot” or “cow-orkers”? They merit correction because people have somehow learned that they are _correct_.
---
### Author:  [@Fuel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuel)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2003, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-puncuation-grammar-errors-on-sdmb/176395/29 "2003-05-31T01:10:07Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by cowgirl \*
> \*\*What about consistent errors like “alot” or “cow-orkers”? They merit correction because people have somehow learned that they are _correct_. \*\*
Why do they merit correction? In order to cleanse the “fighting ignorance” board of errors? Just wanted to clarify, because that’s the only reason I would correct it… if I felt the perp were making the board look bad with lots of bonehead, repetitive errors in short, nonsensical posts, where they stick out.
If they are saying something good/clever at the time, I would leave well enough alone, for the sake of respect. If they are an obvious bonehead, then that sort of changes things, IMO. I guess context _does_ matter…
---
### Author:  [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2003, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-puncuation-grammar-errors-on-sdmb/176395/30 "2003-05-31T04:21:51Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by cowgirl \*
> \*\*What about consistent errors like “alot” or “cow-orkers”? They merit correction because people have somehow learned that they are _correct_. \*\*
Um, “cow-orkers” is a joke. Many of us, when we see “coworkers” (without any hyphen at all), mentally mispronounce it as “cow-orkers.” That gives rise to a wonderful image of the members of one’s office cohort as bovines.
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-puncuation-grammar-errors-on-sdmb/176395.md?page=1)