 | Grammar PoliceBy Grace O'Neill |
Little known fact… well not that little known if you happen to be one of those lucky few who knows me in a “it’s a 2 for 1 Happy Hour and they’ve got Cherry Wheat on tap” sorta way. There are very few things in life that irk me. Children? Can’t get enough of them. Animals? Adore them (except horses but that’s a whole other blog post in itself). Geriatric drivers who can’t see over the steering wheel? Ok, I’ll admit it. They bug the crap out of me. But that’s easily rectified by blasting my radio.
There’s one thing, though, that pushes my buttons to no end. Self-appointed Grammar Police.
Lesbians like to play Grammar Police… No, scratch that. They LIVE for it. One missed comma. One misspelled word. A “your” instead of a “you’re” and presto! Suddenly, every PHD wielding, New Yorker subscribing, self-proclaimed “enlightened” lesbian in a 50 mile radius comes crawling out of the woodworks just to inform you of your glaring mistake.
Sure it’s tempting. On many of occasions, I too have succumbed to the urge. Chalk it up to a little bit of Schadenfreude and that overwhelming need to be overly competitive. And honestly there’s nothing really wrong with pointing out a “their vs. they’re” every now and then.
But most Grammar Police can’t just stop at one misused colon. Oh no! They not only give in to the urge but go that extra step to silently (or sometimes not so silently) judgments those that live in the land of typos. And it’s this that drives me up a wall.
I’d like to state for the record that typos, misplaced commas, even a wrong word now and then are ok. It’s happens… especially when one is pounding out a blog post at 3 am after working an 11 hr day.
So, the next time you feel that urge to show off your grammar superiority by pointing out a mistake, take a moment, stop, and think about the fact that you aren’t the only one who can still sing “Conjunction Junction” by heart.
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June 22nd, 2009 at 11:32 pm
dammit…now i have conjunction junction in my head. argh.
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:48 pm
My ex is very much a part of the Grammar Police Sisterhood. I think I’ll send this post on to her.
June 23rd, 2009 at 12:57 am
Re: vikki
i wonder how many exes will get this blog post forwarded to them…
June 23rd, 2009 at 1:14 am
Oh, the songs of childhood! You make a great point. While I don’t see the harm in the occasional pointing out of a grammar mistake, so many of us that leave comments on blogs give too little credit to the writers of them. Sure, we enjoy reading what has been written but I wonder if we really appreciate the time and energy put into each post, however short it is, regardless of a few grammar mistakes or typos. Thanks to you and everyone else on this site for providing some great content. I am curious, however. Was this particular post prompted by recent comments made by users on this blog or was it something you already had in the works? I suspect it may be a bit of both.
I love that you wove in enlightenment, schadenfreude and competitiveness on a post that basically reams out a few people for being needlessly pedantic. Someone certainly means business!
Keep up the good work.
June 23rd, 2009 at 6:45 am
Thanks Katie!
Ironically enough this post wasn’t really fueled by anything specific. It’s just something I’ve noticed (especially since I’m the queen of typos) and thought it was time to point it out
June 23rd, 2009 at 8:08 am
As someone who’s been a professional writer/communications geek for many years, let me give you a big hand. Typing fast enough to capture all the wondrous thoughts running through your head leads to many typos and many your v. you’re problems. Anything I hand in to an editor or my boss is free of such mistakes, because I have time and the monetary incentive to edit after writing. Blog posts and internet comments, not so much. So, let me just say, your awesome!
June 23rd, 2009 at 9:08 am
A.
MEN.
SISTA.
SERIOUSLY — I hate that shit.
June 23rd, 2009 at 5:09 pm
@bex -rofl.
I agree, I hate the grammar police its only understandable when the person uses text speak and you either have no idea what they are saying or its painful to read.
June 24th, 2009 at 3:12 am
I also agree when it’s minor, fleeting mistakes.
When it’s too painful to read I usually just skip over it. What about when it happens in person too? I admit that I’ve corrected people sometimes w/o thinking. Just the other day my friend was going on about how he borrowed something to a friend…. “lent” just leapt from my lips.
June 24th, 2009 at 8:47 am
I will admit that I am typically one of the grammar police, in public. What I cannot stand though, are the commenters who will destroy someone just because of a few typos. If you can’t ignore that kind of stuff, don’t read the site.
I just can’t deal with people speaking to me and saying things like ‘drawl’ instead of ‘draw’ or ‘warsh’ in place of ‘wash’. I live in the midwest, believe me, I get a lot of both of the above.
I love your writing, keep it up!
June 24th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
I carry my Grammar Police Badge with pride…
They’re does not equal their does not equal there.
June 26th, 2009 at 8:58 am
I confess I’m usually quite the grammar stickler but I try not to mind it online. And I really do text with proper grammar and spelling 99% of the time.
June 29th, 2009 at 2:22 am
lol your post was absolutely hysterical!! i confess i am a member of the grammar police, though i try to limit my indictments to close friends who should really know better.
as a firm believer in reading things as few times as possible, bad grammar is just misleading and confusing! i end up rereading a sentence twenty times to deduce the writer’s original meaning and intent … and i’m getting entirely too worked up about this … lol.
June 10th, 2010 at 9:31 pm
I HATE grammar police too! They’re so annoying! Don’t they have anything better to do than to critique everyone’s spelling? I mean ”it happens” typos are a way of life we don’t plan them they just happen. I can’t stand it when one has to complain and whine about the way I misspelled a word or how I didn’t add an ” ‘ ” to the word cant. Don’t these people have a life? I’m sure they made many typos before so why should they point out when they see someone else make a mistake? This is for all the assholes out there that don’t have a life or they think they’re so perfect that nothing ever wrong happens to them! Chris Hicks you listening? I was referring to you too. ^^