We Grammar Snobs Are Just So Mean! (article linked)

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selkn.asrai

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This article on MSNBC perturbed me. Apparently, all us Grammar Snobs/Nazis/Police need to chill the f ck out and gawd, get a life.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28900351/

According to this article, if you encourage use of proper English, you are:

- controlling and on a power trip.
- a perfectionist.
- overeager to please authoritative figures from childhood, such as parents and teachers.
- mean and uptight.
- condescending.
- overstressed.
- misplacing anger from a poor economy and a president who used words like "nucular" and asked, "Is our children learning?"
- possibly zealous.
- snobbish.
- assigning blame through "attribution theory." [see article for explanation of this term.]
- obsessive/anal-retentive.
- dehumanizing (according to a comment linked in the article.)
- in need of a life (also according to numerous comments linked.)

Also, notice the graphic up top. That grammar snob looks awfully dowdy.

... :Wha: ... I think this article is absurd.

Metastes a bitter agenda in the tone and content. It seems to me that everything in this article is incredibly--almost laughably--biased in favor of the widespread lackadaisical attitude regarding knowledge, written/spoken communication and impressions made upon others. This article, for the lack of a better word, demonizes those who pay attention to language. Apparently, we're just cruel, priggish, egotistical control freaks who enjoy condescension under the delusion of our superiority.

As writers, how do you feel about this?
 

thethinker42

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Well fine. We're all a bunch of controlling snobs.

I guess we'll all just switch to chatspeak or LOLspeak instead, lest anyone's feelings get hurt.
 

donroc

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At Cal back in the 1950s, the English majors referred to journalism majors as those who lacked the ability to comprehend and use proper grammar. I was a History major with no dog in the fight.
 

TerzaRima

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According to this article, if you encourage use of proper English, you are:

- controlling and on a power trip.
- a perfectionist.
- overeager to please authoritative figures from childhood, such as parents and teachers.
- mean and uptight.
- condescending.
- overstressed.
- misplacing anger from a poor economy and a president who used words like "nucular" and asked, "Is our children learning?"
- possibly zealous.
- snobbish.
- assigning blame through "attribution theory." [see article for explanation of this term.]
- obsessive/anal-retentive.
- dehumanizing (according to a comment linked in the article.)
- in need of a life (also according to numerous comments linked.)

So what's their point?
 

gothicangel

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They want to meet my Univeristy tutor - down graded me to a lower second last semester for comma splicing.

First darn person to sit down and tell me how to use a semi-colon!
 

peachiemkey

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WTF. Look, I loathe poor grammar as much as the next, uh, poor grammar loather. But that doesn't mean that Yes! I have corrected a grammatically incorrect or misspelled sign because the error was so bad I couldn't help myself! That's not normal.

BTW, dear Angela "Crispy Cream" Nickerson: your retarded.
 

Don

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Um, that should be 'you're retarded.' Not that I give a damn. I'm much too enlightened for that.
 

nevada

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I wasn't that offended by the article. The journalist presented several sides and I thought it was fine.

I shall now admit that yesterday I sent an email to an employment agency that advertised "immidate engineering opurtunites". I told them I had 30 seconds to impress them with my resume, but they had 30 seconds to impress me with their header and their header told me they were amateurish, careless, and not as educated as perhaps they should be. And that I wouldn't hire a company to find an employee for me if they couldn't even spell things correctly, and that I certainly would never apply to a company that couldn't spell immediate. (never mind that i'm not an engineer. totally besides the point.) they never did reply.

please don't point out that i use run-on sentences and don't capitalize in posts. to me, my posts are me talking. this is me rambling on. anything i present to the public, ie writing, resumes, is properly constructed and spelled. (spelt? no, thats an ancient wheat) and ummm, yeah. i disagree with changing signs in public. that's vandalism. but nothing wrong with pointing out to an owner that something's spelled wrong. in a nice way. no need to make him feel like a noob.
 

Kate Thornton

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I always point out public mistakes - signage should be correct. I track down the perpetrators and force them to use correct spelling and grammar or take the damned thing down.

I get particularly enraged when I see "avacadoes" for sale. I have been known to introduce the sign-morons to guacamole. Up close.

Yes, the local supermarket loves to see me cruising their sale flyers...
 

TerzaRima

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My job includes reviewing school records for some of my patients. I really admire teachers--I was brought up by two of them--but OMFG, do you not have to take comp and lit in the ed major? References to "priviledges" and a student who "can not focus" or one who "needs treated for his attention difficulty" have all given me the vapors at one point or another.
 

MelodyO

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I've never changed a public sign with grammatical errors...but I've photographed a few for the LOLs. Is it bad that I sometimes wish I could take the offending apostrophe off the sign and stab the offender in the eye with the pointy end of it? It's bad, isn't it?


::doesn't care::
 

jgold

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So, when I see a sign outside of Burger King proclaiming HOME OF THE WOPPER, I should just let it slide?

I think not.
 

peachiemkey

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Signs like that just make me laugh, really. I guess I'm more of a grammar nazi than a spelling nazi. Probably because I won the spelling bee when I was 10 and was shamed for it for the whole year because I was unpopular and everyone wanted the other girl to win. LOL
 

Silver King

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There's a preschool by my house called, "Kids Kare." Now I realize the owners are trying to be clever, but I hate that freaking sign to the point that I can't look at it anymore. If I had my way, I'd force them to change the spelling and include punctuation, or else face criminal charges, up to and including the closure of their establishment and the incarceration of the guilty parties.

It's fun to think about taking extreme measures to shield children and the general populace from the deliberate misuse of our language. :)
 
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mscelina

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The editor of our local paper hates my guts. every week at least, I send him an email detailing the proofing errors in the newspaper that day. Sometimes I don't make it out of the first section before I say "and so on and so forth."

Word to the wise: if you are the editor of a newspaper and you're drinking in a bar, don't give your email addy to the bartender who tells you she's a professional writer and editor. Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad things can happen.

*tackle hugs Silver King*

Heh. bet you thought I'd forgotten! Not bloody likely.

*saunters out of the room looking for a beer*
 

GirlWithPoisonPen

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The editor of our local paper hates my guts. every week at least, I send him an email detailing the proofing errors in the newspaper that day. Sometimes I don't make it out of the first section before I say "and so on and so forth."

Word to the wise: if you are the editor of a newspaper and you're drinking in a bar, don't give your email addy to the bartender who tells you she's a professional writer and editor. Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad things can happen.

I'm all in favor of upholding the English language and its rules, but what is the purpose of doing this other than to ridicule him? After the first few times, it should have been clear to him that he needs to hire a proofreader.

I'm a professional writer/editor too.
 

Storm Dream

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I was irritated by the title The Pursuit of Happyness, but I have no problem going to Krispy Kreme.

I think I need help.
 

Silver King

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I'm all in favor of upholding the English language and its rules, but what is the purpose of doing this other than to ridicule him? After the first few times, it should have been clear to him that he needs to hire a proofreader...
It seems some people need to have it rubbed in their faces more than others. It's like dealing with puppies: You can yell at them all you want when they make a mess, but it's far more effective to rub their noses in it a few times to teach them a lesson. Eventually, they'll get the hint and behave.

(Not that I'm suggesting certain editors are dogs or anything. Or even young dogs!)

...*tackle hugs Silver King*

Heh. bet you thought I'd forgotten! Not bloody likely...
Ha! For a second there, I thought you didn't love me anymore. :D
 

BenPanced

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The editor of our local paper hates my guts. every Every week at least, I send him an email detailing the proofing errors in the newspaper that day (then shouldn't that have been "Every day at least"?). Sometimes I don't make it out of the first section before I say "and so on and so forth."

Word to the wise: if you are the editor of a newspaper and you're drinking in a bar, don't give your email addy address ("addy" is inappropriate slang and causes trauma fits in my spell check utility) to the bartender who tells you she's a professional writer and editor. Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad Bad (I know this is an internet forum, but really) things can happen.

*tackle hugs Silver King* I shall now tackle hug Silver King. (Either way, this is inappropriate behavior, possibly making the subject of this "tackle hug" uncomfortable, and a sentence fragment.)

Heh. I'll bet you thought I'd forgotten! Not bloody likely.

*saunters out of the room looking for a beer* I shall now saunter out of the room looking for a beer. Another sentence fragment; please be more aware of their use in the future.
C- Please see me after class.
 
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