Course. I’m not saying one should go around and correct every error one sees. But I <will>, nicely, and sweetly, correct someone if they repeatedly mispell a word. I consider it a positive thing, not a negative, and haven’t had much problem with people’s responses. If I actually notice someone repeatedly mispelling something, it’s a rather awful mispelling. Most I pay no attention to, as there is no point, and chances are, the person does know the correct way, and just wasn’t paying attention. Like I said, in this instance, it was done rudely and was unnecessary. And on message boards such as this one, a post correcting someone is a bit silly. However. If a person makes a mistake, they don’t know it’s a mistake until someone tells them it is, and how to correct it. Hence spelling and grammar corrections.
…but that could get irritating and distracting if when someone is trying to converse with others and really ads nothing to the conversation. Spelling mistakes I make are usually caused by me thinking faster than I can type and the letters get muddled. It’s not because I don’t know how to spell, so pointing it out isn’t going to teach me anything…only annoy me.
And I agree, he was very ‘high and might’ and rude.
…but you don’t appear to be the type that consistantly spells simple words wrong, or constantly makes the same grammatical errors over and over. And that’s not the type of person she/he meant (I think), when she/he said that it’s helpful if you politely point out consistant errors.
Those kinds of errors aren’t just “typing too fast,” and as distracting as it is to YOU to have someone step in and say perhaps “um sorry but iyou’RE is a contraction of you and are, not YOUR which is a possessive,” seeing such errors over and over again are like biting on tinfoil for some of us.
With someone who is obviously ignorant and doesn’t care, it’s just another sign of their ignorance.
But, imho, it’s most “cringeworthy” when it’s someone who is obviously intelligent, but yet sprinkles their posts with “irregardless” or “loose for lose” or something and doesn’t seem to know it’s wrong.
Well, for instance, look at all the math/physical science posts where the geek/nerds rant on and on about “this is so simple, it makes me just cringe that people don’t get this” etc.
It’s much the same for those of us that enjoy properly written english (American I guess should say).
I for one appreciate it if someone say “hey, that word is really pronounced this way” or “that word is spelled like this for its plural”.
I went around for years spelling Misspelling with one S, because I’d read it in a copy of “Secretaries Handbook” as that being the correct spelling (talk about irony, hehe).
I wish someone would have told me LONG before I found out, and long after I’d been using the misspelled version.
(ps, I have a new, very touchy keyboard, so if I have more misSpellings than usual, that’s why :D)
I’m guilty I’m afraid…Not exactly the same thing, but close. Someone used “e.g.” incorrectly. I tried to ignore, I swear, but it is one of my big peeves and I broke down and corrected him. But I hope I wasn’t overly rude about it.
The question is what a person’s trying to accomplish - is it really about “fighting ignorance” or are you just scoring points to make yourself look clever? Sometimes there’s no choice but to address poor writing b/c the meaning is unclear - that happens often - but being petty just to elevate oneself makes the poster look bad, and not clever.
I can commiserate w/the grammar police, too - poor grammar and misspellings used to be one of my pet peeves (I used to fix the graffiti in the girls’ bathroom). But I’ve chilled a bit as I’ve gotten older, in part because over the years I’ve run into soooo many successful professionals whose writing skills are subpar. Librarians, engineers, meteorologists, marketers - it’s rampant.
Someone who wrote to disagree w/me on a thread I’d started and about which I felt passionately posted w/tons of errors, although the logic & message were still quite clear. I started to belittle his writing in my response, then thought better of it & just let it pass. So that when it came out in a later posting that he’s from Sweden, I could just be impressed at his ability to argue in a second language (not sure I could order a cup of coffee in Sweden myself). Rather than insulting him, I gained an understanding of his views & he of mine because we continued our dialogue - if I’d ripped his writing, that wouldn’t have happened.
No, you are the Apostrophe Nazi. Can I be a jackbooted henchwoman?
I nitpicked some grammatical errors in a post by a white supremacist once. Somebody brought out the rolling-eyes smiles and scolded me. I was really surprised that I got negative feedback for being pissy with a white supremacist.
As another high-ranking official in the Grammar Nazi Party, I still have to agree with the OP. I enjoy the BBQ Pit threads of the type: “I hate it when people do [insert common grammar or spelling error]”, and I have started a few threads myself; but nitpicking people’s posts over minor spelling errors is another matter. It’s rude because you have singled out a particular person for ridicule. Ahem - Early Out cough, cough…
Certainly not as rude as the OPs example, but still - was it really necessary? Was there any confusion as to what I meant? And then there’s that exclamation point, as if to say “Gosh, that blowero sure is a dummy - look how he spelled it”.:rolleyes: It really ruins the tone of what was otherwise a very gracious post.
I hate to be a pain, but…
The word “wrong” in the OP should not have been used. As “spell” is a verb, it must be defined by an adverb, so “wrong” , which is an adjective, should have been “incorrectly”, an adverb. Just as you would say "He moved quickly " rather than “He moved quick”.
A lot of things that used to be unacceptable are now just absorbed and have become ok, but I don’t think this is one of those.
Show even just one time where I have ever pulled such an egregious and unwarranted stunt like Buck’s little shenanigan in the OP and I’ll cheerfully post an open apology.
If you are unable to do so, I’d like to see you have the ostiones to come in here and apologize to me.
If you are unable to do either, you are a monster raving pencil-necked fuckwit of the N[sup]th[/sup] water.