Those who aren't grammar Nazis - what gramatical errors go too far, even for you?

I don’t really care about gramatical errors. This is fluther not school. The only time I mention someones gramatical errors is when they are arrogantly insulting others.

@Mikewlf337 At all? Ever? Not even how is babby formed would cause you to, at the very least, ignore everything from that person again?

Not really a grammatical error, but txt spk isn’t necessary unless using it to actually text message someone!

“Could of” and “should of.” I’ve learned to chill about grammar here, for the most part, but that just sets my blood boiling!

@Dutchess_III I’m having a hard time “seeing” that in my mind’s eye – would you mind giving me an example?

Happens a LOT. Example, “I should of gone to the store.”

@Dutchess_III Oooohhh. See, I was looking at the difference between the could and the should, not the of. Now I’m with you.

@papayalily That link is hilarious, btw!!:)

The misuse of “could care less” and “literally” to mean “could not care less” and “virtually”.

I can’t take people seriously if they can’t understand their own words.

“I should of gone to the store.”
I assume they mean “I should’ve gone to the store.”

Sorry for jumping in with so many separate posts
@papayalily u no wat elks? The spell check flags “could’ve” and “should’ve” as being incorrect. That makes me crazy too!

Text speak on fluther is a bit irritating.

I really don’t care. If I can’t understand what it says, then I might have a problem. On the same note, I assume that not every member speaks English as their first language.
One thing that really gets under my skin is the word “addicting.” It isn’t even wrong, I just hate it.
Otherwise I can’t think of anything specific that really bothers me. I’ve never really been the type to stress over that sort of thing.

If I can understand what someone is trying to say,I will never have a problem with how they say it.I think it is bad manners to correct people without being asked.

@Dutchess_III It is a good link. Spellcheck says a lot of words are wrong… so I add them… Lol, your stupid speak is freakishly good.

@jaytkay I actually love using literally incorrectly. It’s not that I don’t understand what the word means, it’s just the even though I know it’s wrong, saying “figuratively” or “virtually” tends to undermine my point instead of emphasizing it as I want, so I just say “screw it” and do it anyway.

The more I study the structure of language, the less grammatical errors bother me. Don’t get me wrong: not only do I notice them and make mental corrections, but I also find it strenuous to decipher errors (particularly those on a structural level (“cat bit did the dog”) because it disrupts my ability to speed-read. In the long run, I find it far more important for me to keep my own writing in check than police other people.

I don’t think it is unacceptable to make errors. Everyone makes mistakes. However, I find it irritating when people get annoyed with me when I point out an error (”[Blank] and I” not “me and [blank]” seems to be the most common one.) I do not do it to belittle anyone. I do not do it be a snooty show-off. It is an unconscious response that I developed as a child (I even corrected my parents on a daily basis.)

People are far too sensitive about language, whether they are sticklers for the rules or don’t want to be informed that they have made an error.

@TheOnlyNeffie I have been in arguments with my older brother more than once regarding the word “addicting” because I think it should be “This game is addictive” or “I am addicted to this game” and not “this game is addicting”. He usually tells me to shut up.

For the record, all; I hereby give you permission to correct my grammar at any time. JUST BE NICE!!!

The more I study the structure of language, the less grammatical errors bother me.

Same. Before I actually started studying linguistics in college, I was full-on grammar Nazi who would correct everyone at every opportunity. I’ve really mellowed out since then. Obviously, if I’m actually having difficulty understanding what someone is writing, I will comment. But if someone writes “you’re” instead of “your”, I can still understand the sentence and will probably just chock that up to an honest mistake rather than a true misunderstanding of the usage of the words.

@Dutchess_III

After “For the record, all”, I believe you would want to use a colon rather than a semicolon. ;)

@muppetish I agree. I think that “addicting” is officially alright to say now. I just can’t stand it. It sounds so wrong.

I also give everyone permission to correct my grammar. Especially if you’ll tell me things like “see, you switched the subject (blank) and the predicate (blank) around” or something like that. I never learned the official rules of grammar, I just have a really good gut feeling about those things.

@DominicX I think I have a mild case of e. coli. Please don’t mention colons to me!

Actually…I still get confused as to when to use a ; or a :. So I try to avoid using them at all. But….I gave it a shot. Figured I’d sound really ‘mart, or someone would correct me! ~Thanks.

@papayalily Nope. It’s just an honest mistake. I don’t let such trivial things like that bother me and it definitely doesn’t make me think so low of a person that I will ignore anything the person says on here or anywhere else. It really doesn’t say anything about the person intelligence level. It just means the didn’t proof read or use spellcheck.

Nothing really bothers me online. What really bothers me is shop signs with apostrophe’s in plural’s.

@muppetish – I’m with you. Standard English hasn’t been standard for very long at all.

@Mikewlf337 – I agree that often people point out grammar and spelling mistakes as a way to criticize the person’s intellect when they really just disagree with the argument. However, repeated mistakes, typos, an obvious lack of care for spelling (even in a single post) call into question, validly, whether a person is really thinking or looking over what they’ve typed. If you’re trying to make a valid point in a discussion, you should be reviewing what you put up enough to make sure that there aren’t repeated glaring errors.

I agree with those who say that after studying a language (or semiotics or linguistics generally) one begins to realize there’s no need to be prescriptive all the time.

The next level of irritation, then, occurs when one encounters a self-appointed (and of course he is always self-appointed) grammar Nazi who still makes very avoidable mistakes.

There are still some errors that kind of make me shake my head in disbelief. Turning a plural into a possessive is such an error. And then there is the word “I” being used incorrectly as an (indirect) object, which is really just an educational thing but continues to torment me.

I suspect the two… protagonists in “How is babby formed?” are learners of English.

The grocers’ apostrophe is really very interesting.

To be honest, linguistic mistakes don’t really bother me any more in general. If it’s an academic essay or job application, on the other hand, it’s difficult to remain sympathetic to the person that makes them.

I guess that’s just a function of being an EFL teacher – it’s acceptable for learners to make mistakes: It’s a natural and integral part of how people learn, but I won’t consider someone for employment as a teacher who makes basic mistakes on their CV.

What really annoys me in this regard is not a grammar mistake, but a category mistake: error is natural and inevitable. Indeed, what many categorise as error is, to me, evidence of the variety and flexibility of communities and language – the loss of conjugation of ‘be’ in southern American English, for example, or the acquisition of loan words, calquing and backforming.

Mistakes are just evidence of a changing language, IMO.

@absalom Could you please give me examples for each of those? Like I said, I’m not that familiar with the technical rules.

Nowt! They’re only words, as long as they’re legible i’m good. Having said that, I get slightly irrate when my name’s spelt wrong….in real life that is.

Your vs. You’re

Everytime someone confuses the two, I’m tempted to beat them over the head with a cactus.

@papayalily: So for the first example, it would be something like: ‘Look at that pack of dog’s over there,’ in which the plural dogs should not contain an apostrophe (which would normally indicate possession).

And then the second example: ‘My mom made my brother and I lots of food for Thanksgiving,’ in which the use of I would be incorrect. (You can’t say, ‘My mom made I lots of food for Thanksgiving.’)

The second example usually occurs when people misapply the common rule that me cannot be used as a subject. (I.e., ‘Me and my brother went shopping,’ which we all know is technically wrong.) I think they tend to rely on the rule too much and end up using I as an object when me would be more appropriate.

@Dutchess_III: ; vs :
semicolon isn’t really a colon at all; it’s put in place of a period when you want to connect to complete sentences together. (You can usually use it instead of ”(comma), and/but/etc”. I love semicolons but have to watch how much I use them because many people find their overuse tiring.) ( ;
and the colon: it’s used to present things, usually. Things like: grand statements; long lists (where you would then generally use semicolons to separate ideas rather than commas… maybe that’s where the semicolon’s name comes from?); quotations/speak that you really want to stand out; etc. ( :

People using the wrong word/thing in place of another bothers me.—To/too. Their/they’re/their. It’s/its. You’re/your. The should of instead of should have/should’ve mentioned above.—Of course, I make those same mistakes all the time too, because it’s so easy to. So I never correct anyone. (I flinch more when I see the mistake in my writing than anyone else’s…)

Grammar rules on what you ‘shouldn’t’ do don’t have much affect on me. Fragments, not “real” words, using contractions, not ending sentences with prepositions…. so many rules. I break those all the time, myself.

Dangling participles. And after being reprimanded, the moderator yelled at me even more… ;)

@DancingMind~ you said, ”...using contratctions…” Using WHAT??? Rolling on the floor here!! :)

Your vs. You’re

Your/You’re
Their/There

Those don’t bug me. I make those mistakes often and see them as typos, not grammar errors.

I notice nobody has dared correct Ucme’s spelling.

@Dutchess_III
Ack!!! Thank you! ahaha >fixes<

I liked “contratctions” better!!

You mean contraction’s?

@jaytkay The Gestapo has spoken!

“Every day” being consolidated into one word when it shouldn’t be. “I eat a granola bar everyday.” Drives me nuts.

@sliceswiththings—ooh that’s such a bad habit of mine! I do that practically everyday every day. The other one I have a problem with is each other. I always want it to be eachother.

@DancingMind Uh-oh, I hope you don’t say “alot.”

@sliceswiththings—haha. Lucky for you that one does bother me

@sliceswiththings….It would drive me nuts if I ate a granola bar everysingleday of my life too!

I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care.

The standards: their/they’re, your/you’re—they tend to throw me, mostly by forcing me to read them twice to be sure I know what the writer means.

The other one that really bothers me is “loose” instead of “lose.” As in: How many trees did you loose in the storm? It’s like fingernails on a black board for me. Even writing it myself makes me feel all creeped out.

@wundayatta

That and “I laughed so hard I couldn’t breath”. It’s like, come on…

In the case of breath/breathe and loose/lose, the spelling changes the pronunciation; they’re not homophones.

Alot, prolly instead of probably and the above: ” People using the wrong word/thing in place of another bothers me. To/too. Their/they’re/their. It’s/its. Lose/loose. You’re/your. Should of instead of should have/should’ve mentioned above. reading this, I rarely see , “should’ve.”
I think but am not certain that most of this is taught in elementary school. Therefore, the use of “prolly” puzzles me. I see a lot of , “your making me..” on Facebook by junior high kids instead of “you’re.” I blame the teachers. Are they still underpaid? That’s what I used to hear .

@Aster From what I can tell, it’s actually because of texts that a lot of this started. I had never in my life seen prolly before texting became ubiquitous. Since texts limit you to 140 characters (and most of these came about before everyone had unlimited texting), it was cheaper to say prolly (6 characters) than probably (8 characters). Same with your/you’re – one saves you an extra 2 characters. I know I’ve used both on those occasions where if I don’t, I’ll have to send another text just to type a measly 3 characters. From there, you simply don’t use proper spelling and grammar often enough to remain both in the habit and clear of the rules.

Haha @Dutchess_III you’d get so many crumbs downyourshirt!!

Txt Spk
There, Their, and They’re getting mixed up
“Could care less” when it should be “Couldn’t care less”
and apostrophes getting misused.
A mom from my church is always posting on FB “The boy’s did this!” or “The boy’s and there dad went to such and such!” It’s rather annoying.

I don’t normally point out the error, but every time I see someone mistakenly use your where they obviously meant you’re, it annoys me considerably. The only time I am likely to actually go Grammar Nazi on them is when they are insipid enough to tell me “Your stupid.” That crosses the line!

@ETpro, yep, that’s pretty much how I feel about it, too.

I spell words incorrectly alot but I usually catch the error when it’s too late to change it. As long as it doesn’t look like a 6 year old wrote something or it isn’t text talk or some other type of shorthand I don’t care. Just because someone is great with typing words, proper puncuation and all that other stuff that doesn’t make a person smart. Some people are more technical than lingual. The point of the post is more important to me as long as I can understand it.

Heh! @DominicX said ‘homophone’. Heh.

I do believe I screw up with ‘lose’ and ‘loose.’ I’m not sure why. Might be all the crumbs down my shirt. But DO correct me if you see me let loose with the wrong form of lose, please!

you’re/your and to/too/two. I can’t believe anyone past the age of 13 mixes them up. I feel bad for them.

Also ”Let me note that Kilgore Trout and I have never used semicolons. They don’t do anything, don’t suggest anything. They are transvestite hermaphrodites.” – Kurt Vonnegut
^I agree. They’re annoying and what’s the point.

<nazi>

@deni

Of course you meant to say that you feel bad for ‘him’ or ‘her’ or ‘him or her’ and not ‘them’ as ‘anyone’ is of course singular. (Also: . => ? but then of course who really cares./?)

Semicolons are more like swinging doors, I just read somewhere recently on some dust jacket on some new book glamorizing grammar.

Also if semicolons are cross-dressers then maybe they are capable of cross-dressing clauses in the process of their ‘swinging’, which swinging you kind of have to admit is a little bit seductive, semicolons being the most sexual form of punctuation after the very demanding index (☟) finger.
8======================================================D
And obviously they’re useful for series with lengthier individual clauses and/or with commas and other punctuations, semicolons are, of course obviously.

</gay nazi>

Edit: Only two edits until that penis lined up. I am very bored.

@absolom – You may attempt to soften your point through your entertaining use of tags, but you ‘ve missed the entire point. the use of the 3rd person plural pronoun (although it isn’t really) for an indeterminate person or persons is not necessarily wrong; you just dislike it.

Singular ‘they’.

Cf. my previous post about varuety and change in language.

Prescriptivists are only interested in their own version of the language.

@the100thmankey

I actually don’t dislike it, and I actually kind of made a point to disparage prescriptivism in my original post (which point or post you must have missed), and it was actually just jocose nitpicking born of boredom. The tags were not meant to ‘soften’ but to efface. I’m aware of singular ‘they’ and use it daily.

Someone who can take a post like that seriously seems probably to be taking himself too seriously already.

Semicolons are pointless? YAY!! I feel such…FREEDOM FROM SEMICOLONS!!!! I just have to figure out what to use in their place when you have that awkward moment that’s not quite the end of the sentence, but not quite the beginning of the next…..

@Dutchess_III

The funny part is that once I learned how to properly use a semicolon, I fell in love them; I use them all the time now. :)

My friends even made fun of me for overusing them in text messages; I guess I do do that… :P

@Dutchess_III Yes and no. You never have to use them, there’s always another way of writing it. But they have their uses for switching it up style-wise.
Here’s how my teacher explained them to me: Back during Roman times, when you were going to give a speech, you’d carve what you were going to say into a block of wax – their version of a teleprompter or notecards. Since words were written as all uppercase and no spaces (HOWFREAKINGHARDWOULDITBETOREADTHIS) they used punctuation to help them figure out when to stop. They only had a sort of period, place in three different place, meaning different things. (Look at this for a helpful visual). They’d put a dot on the bottom line to mean a “short stop”, a dot on the middle (dotted) line to mean “medium stop”, and a dot on the top line to mean “long (full) stop”. You can see an example here, although it only has the medium stop. They didn’t use punctuation outside of public speaking. It was simply and only a way for them to figure out when to take a breath.
Then the short stop became the comma, the medium stop became the semicolon, and the full stop became the period/full stop.
So, what I do is I figure out how it would sound if I was reading it out loud, and what would help me remember when to take a breath and for how long. Semicolons are used when you want to indicate that they’re two different things, but closely related. Like “I saw my boyfriend yesterday. He was at the jewelry store. He was looking at sapphires. I hate blue.” means something ever so slightly different than “I saw my boyfriend yesterday. He was at the jewelry store; he was looking at sapphires. I hate blue.” or “I saw my boyfriend yesterday. He was at the jewelry store. He was looking at sapphires; I hate blue”. Or for that matter, “I saw my boyfriend yesterday. He was at the jewelry store picking out sapphires – I hate blue.” (But dashes are a whole different subject).

@papayalily That was really amazing! Really! That’s what punctuation is all about;how much breath you take between two sentences. The thing is—I think nowadays we use the ”—” instead of the ;....does that sound right? It’s like a pause in your thoughts when you’re not quite done. Just like I used the ellipses up there.

To use @DominicX example… he said, ”...I fell in love them; I use them all the time now. :)” Most people would write “I fell in love with them—I use them all the time now.” (OK DK; you can stop now!)

I fell in love with them. I use them all the time now.
I fell in love with them and now I use them all the time.

They just don’t need to exist. Like so many other things, though, so that is of course not an argument.

@Dutchess_III No, because dashes tend to (although not always) indicate that something is dependent on the first part. Semicolons say that each part can stand totally on their own. So technically @DominicX‘s should be a dash, not a semicolon. His use of “them” all the time now is dependent on his love for them. However, to quote myself, “Men cannot be raped, for all sex (especially from women) is welcome and they would never say no; thus, giving them the opportunity to say no is pointless.” While the two ideas are related, you could also phrase it as “Men cannot be raped, for all sex (especially from women) is welcome and they would never say no. Giving men the opportunity to say no is pointless.”

If you can’t put a period in place of the semicolon, you aren’t using it correctly. I mean, it might make it more awkward, but it should be grammatically correct.

@papayalily

I’m going to argue that I did not use it incorrectly. In fact, I inserted the semicolon on purpose after I had already written the sentences. I originally wrote “Once I learned how to use them, I fell in love with them. I use them all the time now.” I originally had a period there and then replaced it with a semicolon to make it an example. I think it works fine.

Use #1: “Between closely related independent clauses not conjoined with a coordinating conjunction.”

Both of the clauses are independent and closely related and there is no coordinating conjunction. I used it correctly.

@DominicX Ok.

@papayalily Wait! I have to stop laughing! WAIT!! Ok….Ok….you said, “If you can’t put a period in place of the semicolon, you aren’t using it correctly. I mean, it might make it more awkward, but it should be grammatically correct.” so…why not use a period instead of a semi colon? choking still!

So, what is the purpose of the colon?? sneeze!

@Dutchess_III Because periods say they’re less linked than they are. Think of it as akin to dependent vs interdependent. With the rape, if you go the period route, it could be implying that giving men the choice to say no is its own idea that you might/could/should do another paragraph/article/rant/whatever on with no regards to the idea that sex is always welcome. With the semicolon, you could do no such thing. The grammatically correct part is more as compared to commas – when writing a sentence, something that comes after a comma doesn’t have to be a complete sentence itself with it’s own subject, for it continues to use the subject from the first part of the sentance. Like “I saw my boyfriend yesterday, looking at jewelry.” Looking at jewelry has no subject, and therefore cannot be its own sentence.

Purpose of a colon: to extract water and salt from solid wastes before they are eliminated from the body. Buwahaha!
No, really, it is most often used to formally or emphatically introduce series, lists, appositives, and quotations. Generally, a colon implies a “promise,” and what follows the colon “delivers on” that promise. For example:
There is one thing a human being simply cannot do without: hope.
Her goal was easily stated: the state championship.
One factor cannot be ignored: the bottom line.
There was only one question left to answer: who had sent her the first warning?
Don’t overlook the most important rule: never argue with the boss.
The major holidays for the upcoming academic year are as follows: Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Day, and Memorial day.
John F. Kennedy issued this stirring challenge: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

So, the colon takes the place of “and that is,” ?
That’s kind of what I’m saying. Now when you see ”.....” or ”—” that’s where we used to put colons. Like, “One factor cannot be ignored—the bottom line.”
So…what is a semi colon used for?
Ga. This is totally screwing up my conversation here!! It took me forever to make the words stop crossing themselves out!

u guys r funny lol your all so mad! lololol

@Dutchess_III You could do either. There often isn’t only one right answer. Each can subtly change what you mean, but often you can choose what you want to use.
A semicolon is used to link two connected but also complete clauses (sentences).

Well..I’ve always understood a colon to mean MORE of a pause than a semi-colon, but LESS of a pause than a period. (This is making me want to frow up! Go see my first answer here, and the algebra Q I asked) Conversely, a semi-colon choke is more of a pause than a comma, but LESS than…..oh man. I’m getting confused. Excuse me a moment! Less than a full comma. I think. .... Or a little more of a pause than a comma,.... ?

@Dutchess_III Colons don’t indicate a pause like commas, semicolons, and periods do.

@papayalily that’s my question. What IS a colon : good for? don’t GO there!

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard You just laugh and play, man, while the wind blows!

@Dutchess_III I almost always use them solely for when I’m going to make a list. Like “To make a sandwich, you need 3 things: Bread, meat, and cheese.” They’re not really my bag the rest of the time.
ETA: Of course, naturally, I say that and then I go and use one. Like this: “Perhaps, but remember: At least at my college, you have at most 2 classes with an instructor before the period to drop with a full refund is over, and most first-day classes showcase the instructors ability to put together a syllabus and nothing else.”
There is no reason on Earth I couldn’t have used an em dash instead of a colon there, I was just in a colon mood.

I am offended by the term ‘grammar nazi’ and I think educated Brits or Americans should not use it at all, at least not in an international forum.

Calling a person such as a strict teacher a grammar nazi in Germany, is like calling an oppressed student a nigger in the United States. Both are very strong and powerful words. I know many Brits and Americans are not aware of this, and this is the reason why I do mention this.

The term is an insult to all victims of Nazism, because it trivializes the true meaning of a perverse ideology.

How about the term grammar prig?

@mattbrowne Grammar prig is good. I totally agree that the term Nazi is overused these days, and that such overuse tends to trivialize what should remain a very loaded word.

People who use the term “quarks” when they should be using “quirks” instead. Oh now wait I did that now didn’t I?

Thanks @ETpro !

Ultra-conservative Republicans use a similar method, by the way. Everything they disagree with is labeled socialist or communist.

Well, I think we all should try to choose our words more carefully.

You’re right, Matt….
@Paradox as in…they don’t know the difference between a quark and a quirk? What about a quack? Wouldn’t it be annoying if people used the word ‘quack’ instead of quirk? :)

@mattbrowne Well, I thought about using a different word. However, a Grammar Nazi is a thing, an actual term/trope/slang, whereas if I used anything else, I’d then have to explain what I meant (and that explanation would almost definitely include the phrase “like a Grammar Nazi”.) So I chose clarity over sensitivity.

@Dutchess_III—It seems I recieve quite a few pm’s informing me of my spelling mistakes or the wrong use of a term.

@Dutchess_III Grammar quacks don;t know the difference between a quark and a quirk. That’s pretty quirky.

@Paradox – Nigger and porch monkey were actual terms too. Terms come and go. It’s time to get rid of this incredible horrible term ‘grammar nazi’. The sooner the better.

On a lighter note:

On his 70th birthday, a man got a gift certificate from his wife.
The certificate paid for a visit to a medicine man living on a
nearby reservation who was rumored to have a wonderful cure
for erectile dysfunction.

After being persuaded, he drove to the reservation, handed his ticket to the medicine man, and wondered what he was in for.

The old man handed a potion to him, and with a grip on his shoulder, warned:‘This is powerful medicine. You take only a teaspoonful and then say 1–2-3’.

When you do, you will become more manly than you have ever been in your life, and you can perform as long as you want.”

The man was encouraged. As he walked away, he turned and asked, “How do I stop the medicine from working?”
“Your partner must say ‘1–2-3–4,’” he responded, “but when she does, the medicine will not work again until the next full moon.”

He was very eager to see if it worked so he went home, showered, shaved,took a spoonful of the medicine, and then invited his wife to join him in the bedroom.

When she came in, he took off his clothes and said, “1–2-3!” Immediately, he was the manliest of men.

His wife was excited and began throwing off her clothes. Then she asked, “What was the 1–2-3 for?”

And that, boys and girls, is why we should never end our sentences with a preposition,because we could end up with a dangling participle.

ROFL zenaroony!! : )

Hah, suuuuuuuuuuper !

I sent it to every teacher I know!