Nitpicky Grammar Nazis

[Rageaholic]

I put "nitpicky" because I think there are legit times to criticize someone's writing style. ef som1 iz tie ping leik dis, than chances are, no one will understand what the hell they are trying to say. Or if they do, it will take more effort than normal to decipher their message.

But then there are those perfectionists who just have to point out any spelling or grammar error in an otherwise readable message. I mean, I've had english professors who were less picky than some of the grammar nazis I've dealt with online. It's like they have nothing better to do than to look for things to pick on someone for. Those are the ones who can pound sand for all I care.

[telecom_goddess]

Now are you talking about ones like me that can't stand it when people make the same blasted mistake over and over again? Like spelling "lose" as "loose"? I hate that. If you can't write correctly online then I feel like you just want to be lazy and do text speak all the time.

Now if that's not what you're saying then I guess I can see, cause I do some shortcuts once in a while, but generally I really don't.

[crashhelmet]

I'm someone that also gets irritated by with the lose/loose butchery. They are words pronounced completely different ways. It would be like someone screwing up eyes and ice.

I normally ignore peoples grammar issues, like the there/their/they're and your/you're debacles, until they claim to be intelligent or attack the intelligence of someone else.

At that point, my inner "Grammar Nazi" comes out in full force. Typically with the implications that I, a person who learned English as a second language, seem to have a better grasp of their native language.

[HYHYBT]

There is a huge difference between using a different word than you meant to and just misspelling something, and that remains true *even if you arrived at the wrong word by a misspelling or typo.*

It's a different word: it means a different thing. It often means a reader having to go back and re-read your sentence because they initially took the word as meaning what it says, which then didn't make sense, and that happens even when the two different words, if spoken aloud, sound exactly the same. (Which, in the case of "lose" and "loose," they don't.) It's worse with less common examples; people sadly have had to get used to seeing "their" to mean "they are" and confusing "affect" with "effect," but more unusual ones bring the flow of reading to a screeching halt, and it's unreasonable to expect the writer not to be blamed for that.

[TheHuckster]

Personally, I get annoyed at the nitpicky level where someone points things out like ending sentences in propositions, saying "good" instead of "well", the occasional erroneous comma, and errors that are obviously simple typos. With mobile phones getting more and more prevalent on the Internet, it seems autocorrect and other "helpful" features seem to commit more errors than the people using them.

That said, I do tend to get annoyed by those who, despite having been taught in FIRST GRADE, not knowing when to use "your/you're", "their/they're/there", or "it's/its", especially when they are trying to preach about how well "educated" they are. I don't find it annoying if it's a one-time mistake, but it starts getting annoying when someone makes the same mistake over and over again. It's one thing if it's a passing Facebook comment or a quick chat message, but when someone's writing an essay to me about their thoughts on a particular issue, I find those kinds of mistakes distracting.

If you're trying to display some indication of how well-educated you are, and English is your first language, then please at least display an grammar education level above elementary school.

[s_stabeler]

what's particularly amusing is that half the time, grammar Nazis themselves make either a grammar or spelling mistake.

not to mention, there are some cases where it's a simple case of British English instead of American.(Honor/Honour, Color/colour Center/Centre to name a few)

[Lace Neil Singer]

While I don't insist that everyone type perfectly, I do think that people should use the correct word (ie there/they're/their), use commas and full stops whenever needed and make an effort to spell properly. If a person's post is readable, then I'm satisfied. I only go full on Grammar Nazi when someone is typing in text speak, 1337 or some other unreadable crap.

[HYHYBT]

Now, sometimes a typo is funny rather than annoying. In that case, sharing the joke isn't necessarily the same as complaining. For example, "Personally, I get annoyed at the nitpicky level where someone points things out like ending sentences in propositions..." is just *begging* for a response ending with "...and how about we hook up after work."

[MrsEclipse]

It's like I always say: "It's okay to be the grammar police when they're committing crimes against language, but just remember Nazis tend to take things a little far. Which would you really rather be?"

[TheHuckster]

Now, sometimes a typo is funny rather than annoying. In that case, sharing the joke isn't necessarily the same as complaining. For example, "Personally, I get annoyed at the nitpicky level where someone points things out like ending sentences in propositions..." is just *begging* for a response ending with "...and how about we hook up after work."

Good catch. And worst of all, I read my post over three times to ensure I wasn't making an error like that and it still got in.

[Ginger Tea]

I will be the first to admit that I don't differentiate between its and it's as I have grown out of using ' and it only appears in don't as an auto correct.

Differentiate redlined to me as I used a c instead of the first t as I am sure when I (rarely) use the word I vocalise it with a c/sea/she sound.

Auto correct and American/British English settings also cause redlines where none should be, but I am less inclined to fix them as I do not do any official paperwork where proper English is required.

The whole ending a sentence with a preposition, the whatewhatnow?
Edit missed the typeo about it and duplicated it, which to be fair, I would have to Google to understand what it is and why they and split infinitives are 'bad', I think I did google that one once and I left more confused than I started.

My English teachers were not the best nor was I a good student.
I once had to write dialogue and used a bastardized English written almost phonetically. Instead of taking my dialogue as it would be spoken, my teacher marked each and every word wrong "Wot I'm sayin iz deez peep el were speekin kinda like diz." it to me, was a fair way of conveying that they were not well educated and spoke differently to 'Queens' English and I too can and will speak like that on occasions.
This was pre Chav, but not Cockney or Scouse, which if you wrote down would be nothing but a wave of red lines, but the same dialogue written 'all proper like' would loose all meaning in the realms of how they spoke, I would have to write a few paragraphs explaining such matters, where reading it as it is heard made more sense (re reading this before posting I am surprised I did not write herd by mistake, or miss a key due to my later mentioned keyboard).

Edit: I also do not know and to a lesser extent care what verbs adverbs adjectives nouns and pronouns mean, or any other words that group or define words, I just use words, I know one of them is a possessive term but frankly I don't care, I only ever encounter the words when reading language books "please enter the verb that best fits with this sentence." what's a verb?
But TBH I have never needed to know, maybe I was off sick that day.

Someone once posted to Imgur why they Grammar Nazi, saying something along the lines of "If you don't change your ways, then the words themselves will end up changing to suit the general populace." which is why MW lists literally as figuratively now, or the other way around.

Half of my typeo's are now due to my wireless laptop style keyboard, at one point I had to have a clear line of sight on the Bluetooth dongle and woe be gone if the battery was running low, when I learnt to touch type I was using a heavy mechanical typewriter and on my first try of an electric type writer I got multiple strikes of keys cos I had not factored in sensitivity between the two.
Then I was using generic keyboards that had some give, this one took some getting used to, but sadly is too cramped so that I hit home instead of backspace.

But punctuation, I rarely use it, my I's auto correct to I most words that need 's get them added, so if I were to go back to a manual typewriter or a word processor with all features turned off (or just notepad) I would find all my failings looking back at me and would have to add them back one by one, or redo in the case of manual.

[bex1218]

I was at school for English lessons. But I was (and am) never good at English. That is totally not my calling. I am better at math and graphic art. I haven't written an actual essay in years.

Despite all that, some people don't even try to do complete sentences or words. I at least make some effort.


But my least favorite thing people do is replace letters on words. Boi instead of boy, for an example.

[Bloodsoul]

It's like I always say: "It's okay to be the grammar police when they're committing crimes against language, but just remember Nazis tend to take things a little far. Which would you really rather be?"

I was about to ask, wouldn't a "Grammar Nazi" be someone who's committing a holocaust against grammar? Or might it be a more general reference to a particular subset like the Schutzstaffel or the Gestapo? The Grammar Gestapo!

I will admit that seeing "your" instead of "you're" frustrates the Hell out of me considering how prevalent it's becoming, and I wonder how many people know that "wont" is a completely different word from "won't"?

Of course it doesn't help that I tend to get obsessive compulsive about the oddest things, and since I want to be a writer on top of that it doesn't make for a very good combination.

(Urge to rewatch The Adventure of English rising…)

[Ginger Tea]

I will admit that seeing "your" instead of "you're" frustrates the Hell out of me considering how prevalent it's becoming, and I wonder how many people know that "wont" is a completely different word from "won't"?

It for me comes back down to the ' key, autocorrect catches most words that should have them, except for I've, I have to manually capitalize the I or go back and fix it.

when the word is valid without the ' just as much as with, albeit in a different meaning, then those like me that let the machine take up the slack won't notice the word slip by and I only did that one myself as I knew it was a problematic word.

you will also notice I hardly ever capitalize my paragraphs and new sentences, the shift key to my left is smaller than a normal key and the one to my right is less used than the ' key, I could say I have problems with that side of the keyboard as my religion dictates that I have my pinkies cut at the knuckle and for me it is best to just ignore those keys altogether, but that would be a lie and a reference to another of my posts.

that and real word processors and even my phone auto capitalize words when a new paragraph and in some cases sentence occurs thus removing my need to do so, so when I get to a less adaptive method that fills in most spellchecking needs, I just go with the flow.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Like I said, there's no need for me to care if a post is readable. However, a jumbled mess like "hi i wos siting in teh pub wen i saw a man fal ovr he wos drunk lol and it wos vry funy i larfed" then I have to point out that their story would be much funnier to read about if it was written in proper English.