# What is Guadere's Law? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [May 18, 2002, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-guaderes-law/109719 "2002-05-18T18:15:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![milquetoast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@milquetoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milquetoast)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-guaderes-law/109719/1 "2002-05-18T18:15:38Z")
I’ve see a hand full of references to **Guadere’s Law** since I started reading this board, and I’m wondering what that edict is. I tried to do a search, but the search failed because “law” is less than the required 4 characters. (I put qoutes around “Guadere’s Law” but the search feature still wouldn’t process my request with the word “Law” in it.) If I search on “Guadere’s” alone, I get a buch of threads where users are mentioning Guadere’s posts, but do not explain/define the actual edict. ☹ Based on this quote > [@](#): > > Complaining about apostrophies while ignoring capitalization? Guadere’s Law I guess. found in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=115831), I’m assuming that it has to do with making a stupid mistake while pointing out or correcting another user’s stupid mistake. Is this assumption anywhere near correct? 😕 Please help out the new fella. Guadere? Anybody? – **Nouveau Bozo** , the new clown in town ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-guaderes-law/109719/2 "2002-05-18T18:22:29Z")
I am neither Gaudere nor **Gaudere** , but the answer to your question is in a principle coined by **Gaudere** , the Administrator here, back before she became a Moderator, that any rant focusing on improper spelling, grammar, or other misuse of the English language will itself contain an inadvertent error of the sort condemned by the poster. Like Murphy’s Law, it holds true an inordinate amount of the time. ---
**Author:** ![LolaBaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@LolaBaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaBaby)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-guaderes-law/109719/3 "2002-05-18T22:24:10Z")
I wasn’t sure if it was referring to **Gaudere** or if there was another person named **G_ua_dere.** So mblackwell’s post about **Gaudere’s** Law is a perfect example of **Gaudere’s** Law. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![White\_Lightning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@White\_Lightning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/White_Lightning)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2002, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-guaderes-law/109719/4 "2002-05-19T00:06:08Z")
Not to mention the superfluous ‘i’ in ‘apostrophes’. ---
**Author:** ![milquetoast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@milquetoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milquetoast)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2002, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-guaderes-law/109719/5 "2002-05-19T00:26:30Z")
Ah, thanks to the both of you! So it looks as if I was nearly an exemplar of the edict in that I misspelled **Gaudere’s** name. However, I wasn’t actually bitching about anyone else’s spelling, so I’m off the hook. Plus, in my defense, I got the spelling from the referenced thread. So I am completely and udderly innocent. Not my fault! Don’t blame me! 😉 And, as one of life’s sweet ironies, I just realized I misspelled “utterly” :eek: (what can I say, I just finished a glass of milk). But I decided that instead of correcting it, I would point out my error, ala [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=115744). ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2002, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-guaderes-law/109719/6 "2002-05-19T18:53:06Z")
And just to doubly prove the point, in attempting to gently tweak you about having misspelled **Gaudere** as Guadere (which as I now see was accurately copying **mblackwell** ’s misspelling), I of course misspelled the misspelling by spelling it accurately both times! **Gaudere** rules even in reverse!!! 🙂 ---
**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:** [May 19, 2002, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-guaderes-law/109719/7 "2002-05-19T23:19:38Z")
Isn’t there some corollary to **Gaudere** ’s law to the effect that attempts to correct spelling and grammatical errors will only compound the problem? ---
**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:** [May 20, 2002, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-guaderes-law/109719/8 "2002-05-20T08:28:59Z")
(I meant to say _self-correct_; when you post something because yopu spot one of your own mistakes, you are even more likely to make another in the post when you try to correct it). ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-guaderes-law/109719/9 "2002-05-20T11:48:58Z")
“yopu”? It just gets better and better… 🙂 ---
**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:** [May 20, 2002, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-guaderes-law/109719/10 "2002-05-20T13:32:13Z")
I menat to say ‘you’ ---
**Author:** ![milquetoast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@milquetoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milquetoast)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-guaderes-law/109719/11 "2002-05-20T13:56:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > I _menat_ to say ‘you’ Are you doing this on purpose now? 😃 ---
**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:** [May 20, 2002, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-guaderes-law/109719/12 "2002-05-20T15:00:14Z")
Maybe I was doing it on purpose all allong ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2002, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-guaderes-law/109719/13 "2002-05-21T07:11:12Z")
Personally, whenever I’m pointing out an error in spelling or grammar, I make it a point to deliberately include one known error, just to stay on the safe side. At least that way, I know where it is. (and before anyone starts looking, this post is not pointing out an error.) ---
**Author:** ![heresiarch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@heresiarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heresiarch)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-guaderes-law/109719/14 "2002-05-22T06:17:51Z")
The Turks are said to intentionally misplace one thread in their hand-woven carpets, out of pious humility, because “Only Allah is perfect.” ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-guaderes-law/109719/15 "2002-05-25T07:02:04Z")
Why does Gaudere get credit for the law? I recognized it on Usenet years before the SDMB existed. And I doubt I was the first to suggest the law. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-guaderes-law/109719/16 "2002-05-25T10:23:39Z")
Chronos, yuo forgot to capitalize “and” inside the parentheses. ---
**Author:** ![Neptune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@Neptune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptune)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-guaderes-law/109719/17 "2002-05-25T11:10:06Z")
Perhaps “Only Allah is perfect”, but Nouveau Bozo mispelled “ala” which, from the French, is two words “a là”. I on the other hand misspelled misspelled, an udderly ridikulus missteak. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-guaderes-law/109719/18 "2002-05-25T16:09:04Z")
That’s _à la_, **not** _a là_. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-guaderes-law/109719/19 "2002-05-25T16:30:00Z")
But **à la** is merciful and compassionate, unlike the Grammar Police, **Arnold**. ---
**Author:** ![mblackwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@mblackwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mblackwell)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-guaderes-law/109719/20 "2002-05-25T16:42:18Z")
My misspellings were intentional. It was supposed to be a joke. [sub]I wonder if anyone bought that ;)[/sub] [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-guaderes-law/109719.md?page=2)