Yeah. Take that you “your/you’re”, “its/it’s” and “there/their/they’re” grammar nazis.
Everybody makes mistakes. Especially with homophones. Maybe words that are homophones should have little pink triangles inserted into the spelling. That’d keep you Nazis happy. Wouldn’t it. Anyone who dares to write things online should be sent to “concentration” camp…
Comments
I am totally a grammar nazi, but I can usually tell the difference between a typo and someone not knowing the difference. However, I’ll usually only bother correcting people who REALLY SHOULD know better… you know, people who have done or are doing English/Journalism degrees :P
I’m definently in the don’t care category- can speak 4 languages can’t spell any of them
Anyone who has completed primary school should know better.
I am a grammar/punctuation nazi and quite fine with that thank you. Once upon a time I got paid to persuade 12 year olds to use correct grammar.
Knowing better is one thing – making an occasional mistake through haste another altogether.
I have no idea how many words I’ve written on this blog – and I think I’ve made the mistake only a handful of times.
Probably 0.01% of my use of there/their/they’re or your/you’re. If you’re happy for that level of scrutiny to be applied to everything you write then sure… be that way. But remember it can be applied everywhere. Like when someone’s playing the piano. I’m a note Nazi. I never hit a wrong note on the piano. It means I play very slowly, and very rarely… but I also get the moral high ground and can point out every time a mistake is made.
Very proud to be a grammar/punctuation nazi, thank you very much.
And anyone whose job is all about the English language (ie teachers, journalists, proofreaders, marketers) should be as well.
And yes, I do proofread junkmail.
Being a “nazi” anything is bad form.
I’m happy to aim for perfect grammar – but I won’t send anybody else to the gas chambers for making a mistake. Because that’s likely to lead to allegations of hypocrisy.
Am a note nazi too. Used to get paid, actually still do get paid, for getting kids to play the right notes.
I proofread junkmail too. And keep the worst offenders to laugh at later…
I also get irate at bad grammar on the news. There’s a difference between an occasional error by someone who mostly has correct grammar, and someone who makes mistakes out of ignorance.
Does this mean that if you’re playing in church and miss strike a chord you’re happy for us to run up and tell you it was wrong.
That’s the behavioural equivalent.
The thing is, I’ve gotten very very good at covering my mistakes on the piano…
I might be a grammar nazi, and a note nazi, but I do try to keep my thoughts to myself, because that’s usually the more loving thing to do. And if you walk around complaining about people’s grammar all the time, you look like a bit of a tool really.
That’s kind of the point of the original post isn’t it?
There is a difference between grammatical errors in printed English and musical errors while playing a piano piece.
You can proof-read a piece of printed English before publishing it. (Indeed, most of the people I ridicule for bad grammar are those whose jobs it is to do just that.) You cannot proof-…play? a piano piece before it reaches people’s ears.
Like I said. I don’t usually mention it when someone makes a grammatical error. I will if the offender is someone who has been trained in proper English grammar (beyond that in which the rest of society has been educated) or if they are currently in the process of it, OR if it is actually their job. Therefore: journalists, editors, authors, people who print catalogues, teachers, journalism students, education students (I give them a bit of a reprieve coz I know they have a lot of other stuff to learn too), English students… etc. I won’t do it to any old blogger/facebooker/twitterer. It’s a waste of time because too many people have terrible grammar.
The problem is that very rarely is a blogger employed to blog.
So, I fit my blogging, and commenting, in around my work schedule. I do it as time allows it – and don’t have time to proof read my comments or posts. Or I rarely do. I proofread work stuff. I don’t have time to sit around all day proofreading my blog – or other people’s – let alone point out their errors. Nor do I care if I make an error less than 1% of the time. I notice other people’s bad grammar – but this whole “pointing and laughing” thing that you people engage in is pretty sad and unless you’re producing a similar amount of content and not making the same mistakes you’re in no position to feel superior.
Especially if you use the word “coz” in your argument.
I expect work that someone has been paid to write to be correct, all of the time. Whether it is a pamphlet in my letter box, or a poorly constructed sentence on the news. I haven’t ever made a formal complaint, just complained to whoever is in the room.
I am very very tempted at times to correct grammar, spelling and punctuation errors in people’s facebook statuses. Especially if I used to teach them. But I don’t. Because I make mistakes sometimes too.
My point is that I’m a grammar nazi but try my best to keep my mouth shut so that I don’t look like a hypocrite. I think good grammar, punctation and spelling is important.
Yeah, I agree it’s important. I just find people who pointscore by correcting it incredibly annoying.
If it is any consolation Nathan, I only do it to you to annoy you.