Last night, you started a thread, with two links, about some people's habit of pointing out, and correcting, other people's posting flaws, such as typos, misspellings, grammatical errors. Your points and your links were interesting, and deserving of serious discussion.

I was feeling silly, perhaps over-caffeinated and sleep deprived, and decided to facetiously "edit" your post. I thought I was being funny in a ridiculous, over-the-top way.
I now fear I was not, because this morning I found the thread disappeared. That usually means something was overly partisan, or offensive. So it seems my facetious post was taken seriously, and not so silly after all.

So I apologize, Thinking. I know my opinions may sometime be grating, but I never intend to personally demean. There was nothing wrong with the "flaws" I "corrected," and I came off more as a grammar Nazi than a grammar cop. They were were simply your personal writing style. Actually, your writing is always excellent and free of errors.

All too often, I am an insensitive lout, and I apologize for my inept, heavy-handed attempt at humor (*face-palm*).

Nice of you to come clean :)

FYI, my daughter (high-school sophomore) came home last yesterday and told me she got 96% on her English grammar final. I joked that she needed at least 98% to qualify as a grammar Nazi. Then we looked at her just-received yearbook, and she immediately pointed out that the yearbook staff had put in "Chior" for "Choir" in one section. Yeah, I know, spelling not grammar...but the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

Judging by your posts, Hie2Klb, I'm impressed, but not surprised, that your daughter speaks and writes well: kids pick up their parents' styles and habits, both good and bad (emphasis on the "good" here). I suspect she's also an avid reader. Strong communication skills will serve her well in all her life pursuits.

Back to the issue of dealing with people's lapses and errors on posts: I'm actually very tolerant, since forums, texting, internet chat and the like are a modern form of chat, and common conversation is never as rigorous as formal writing. Back in the days of quill and inkwell, people had to think through their words very carefully. We should also give politicians some slack. They're talking into microphones and smart phones so, so much; it's understandable that the tongue (or fingertips) don't always get correctly synced with the brain. (Example: a President who referred to Navy "corpse-man," i.e. "corpsman.")

Thanks :)

And I agree -- slack where it's due!
On the other hand, when I get resumes for a six-figure job opening, I don't give any slack. Especially in the days of spell-and-grammar-check. That's just lazy!

One should not dress for a job interview as he does for a picnic.

From Lynne Truss--


A panda walks into a restaurant, sits down and orders a sandwich. After he finishes eating the sandwich, the panda pulls out a gun and shoots the waiter, and then stands up to go. "Hey!" shouts the manager. "Where are you going? You just shot my waiter and you didn't pay for your sandwich!"

The panda yells back at the manager, "Hey man, I am a PANDA! Look it up!"

The manager opens his dictionary and sees the following definition for panda: "A tree-dwelling marsupial of Asian origin, characterised by distinct black and white colouring. Eats, shoots and leaves."

https://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Tolerance-Punctuation/dp/1592402038



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/13/2017 08:45PM by BYU Boner.

Pandas are not marsupials. I'm Australian and we know marsupials. The Aussie equivalent of the joke is:

My boyfriend is such a wombat.

Why is that?

He eats,roots and leaves.

But you would have to Australian to get it.

Oh it takes WAAAAAY more to offend me. I've been kicked in the d#&€ and drug through hell in life to ever be that worked up over a post about grammar. I just find the grammar Nazis funny on online forums ridiculous.

My degree was heavy in writing, for years I wrote technical documentation for the systems which support the internet, written a book, and starting my second book.

I just find it effing stupid when an idea is being picked apart for grammar and not substance. Its weak and SO Mormon like. It's an aversion tactic to dealing with facts or ideas.

My post critiquing your post was deleted. Somebody thought it was offensive, so I felt it best to address the issue.

I'm in writing and critiquing groups, and tell people, frequently, don't get caught up on my spelling and typos. This is a DRAFT--I have lots, and will probably fix them and make different ones in other drafts. What I want is criticism on the story, dialogue, character credibility, diction, paragraph clarity, and so on. What do I get? Lessons on the Oxford comma!

Grrrrrrr....

Unrelated joke, but with Boner in mind:

A high-achievement student from Hong Kong was admitted to Britain's most prestigious university. He was rather put off when told he had to attend a mandatory orientation session. "I did not come here to be oriented!" he complained. "I came here to be occidized!"

I've always thought of forums as "drafts".

I believe it was Socrates who said something along the lines of: great minds discuss ideas, strong minds discuss events, and weak minds discuss people.

In fact, grammar nazis puntion police is just another form of sophism. They completely ignore the difinations of word or twist meanings.

Thinking Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In fact, grammar nazis puntion police is just
> another form of sophism.

But honestly, sometimes spelling and grammar lapses make it really hard to understand the ideas someone is trying to get across.
Like above...

I would guess that was supposed to be "punctuation," but I'm not sure, and the idea you were trying to communicate got stuck somewhere between your keyboard and my brain.

I'm not justifying grammar Nazis...just pointing out that, as above, sometimes what gets written just makes us go, "Um, what?" :)

I guess I may be a spelling Nazi, at least, if not a grammar Nazi. Can't help it. And am annoyed when people are paid for something that ends up in print with errors.

Elegance in style, correctness, is pleasant. Kinda like a messy garden or house as opposed to the pleasure of a beautiful neat one.

Just sayin'