I guess we can correspond that everyone just loves a pedantic , patronizing know - it - all . You know , the variety of somebody who , when you suggest he put a coat on because you would n’t want him to captivate acold , give you a lamentable small large-hearted grinning and mention several PubMed studies that detail how cold body temperatures are n’t relate to getting a coldness . " Do n’t care , " he murmurs as he pats you on the head , " most people do n’t have a go at it that . " Oh , wait . That ’s not someone welove . That ’s someone we boil at when he ’s not around and are sometimes openly uncongenial to in their presence .
Now how do we sense about the kind of individual who does n’t just cite arcane facts but who also insists we are using everyday speech or words to an unacceptable standard ? The grimace - worthy condition " grammar Nazi " gets thrown around pretty often . So does " grammar police . " But surely we can agree that one who is so adamantly fixated on correcting your language can simply be label a Grammar Jerk Who Needs a Hobby .
Now that we ’ve labeled every eager grammarphile as a loser , countenance ’s backtrack and know some heavy trueness . There are convincing reason to correct one ’s grammar . presuppose a colleague hands you a report where " we ’re " and " were " are used interchangeably , and you ’re saving them superfluity in a company encounter by pointing out the error . If you ’re talking to a non - native verbaliser and you ’re genuinely confused by their communication , it might be fair to clarify some grammar to check that you read the meaning correctly . But unless you ’re a linguistic process teacher or have been explicitly take to help , lay off the grammar lessons in general conversation .
That brings us to why it ’s by and large unmannered to discipline the grammar of others . It ’s only not appropriate to correct other masses ’s behavior . Period . Full stop . It ’s not polite to tell anyone they ’re doing a bad job of , well , anything — communication included [ beginning : Miss Manners ] . One theme of being a civil person is being able to show that you are not distracted by the conventions of what ’s being read but are actually interested in the signification of what ’s being said [ source : Miss fashion ] . It ’s exceedingly rude to imply to others that — far from being an appreciative hearing — you were only listening for " mistake . "
And one other affair . Grammar Jerks Who require hobbyhorse should trample very , very carefully . Grammar is a notoriously fickle and switch line of business and prone to confusing even the most confident syntactician . Do n’t assume your noesis of words is changeless . You might find yourself on the receiving closing of a object lesson from a Grammar Jerk Who need Hobbies even more than you do .
