Terminalcoffee discussion

Multiple Choice!

People who correct others' grammar in public are...

A) Making the world a better place.
B) Psychotic
C) Annoying
D) Well-intentioned
E) In need of an enema
F) To be admired
G) Showing off
H) Insecure
I) Turning me on
J) All of the above
K) None of the above
L) Some of the above

Please explain your answer. Spelling and grammar do not count.

(Oh yes they do!)

L: C, G.

It's really not a big deal. To me, it's just another way for someone to feel superior. Sometimes I don't know if I'm saying or writing something the right way so I'll ask. If someone doesn't ask, don't tell.

PS- WHY WERE YOU UP ALMOST TWO HOURS AGO?!

Man, I'm usually up around 4 Central...today was a little earlier, sadly.

As an English teacher married to a copy editor, two of the most persnickety people in the world when it comes to grammar, I would NEVER ever correct someone's grammar out loud - ESPECIALLY not in public. How rude!

One of my pet peeves came from when I worked at a coffee shop last summer, I would overhear this conversation

"Hi Bob, how'ya doin?"
"Good, good, how are you?"
"I am well, thank you"

I can't explain why it bothers me so, and I think I've shared this hackle-raiser with you peeps before, but something about the in-your-face-I'm-so-much-more grammatically correct than you just pisses me off. I always respond in kind, good = good, well = well, etc. Unless I need to tell them about an ear infection or lost key situation, claro que si.

I notice grammar mistakes, but like Sally, I would never correct someone's grammar in public. That's just rude. Now, I LOVE to edit, so when people ask me to, I tear up grammar mistakes.

I think we've talked about this somewhere before, too. If I was looking through the personals or something for a potential mate, bad grammar and spelling would be a turn-off for me.

Sally, I believe you should have used a semicolon and then a colon in your sentence, like so:

"One of my pet peeves came from when I worked at a coffee shop last summer; I would overhear this conversation: "

Mindy, I believe you meant to say "poor grammar," not "bad grammar."






Hee hee hee...

Okay, get ready for a lil' irony...

Sally's example:

"Hi Bob, how'ya doin?"
"Good, good, how are you?"
"I am well, thank you."

Actually, the "well" in line three SHOULD BE "good" because am is a form of to be which is a linking verb and takes an adjective rather than an adverb UNLESS Bob means that he is "well" meaning healthy or not ill (the adjectivial sense). The speaker in line two should have used "well," however, because s/he is responding to the question "how ya doin'?" -- in which case "doin'" is an active verb and therefore takes an adverb rather than an adjective.

Here's my recommendation:

"Hi, Bob, how ya doin'?"
"Very well. How are you?"
"I'm good, thanks."

Yes, I'm a prick. You may commence stoning now.

UNLESS Bob means that he is "well" meaning healthy or not ill (the adjectivial sense)

Isn't that correct, though? Saying you're "good" means you're well behaved. I don't think that's what the person in the coffee shop was asking. The questions "how are you," "how goes it," "how are you doing" etc. are meant to inquire after a person's well-being, not their behavior.

EDIT: Oh, I see what you are saying. The "doing" implies behavior, not physical state or state of mind. Gotcha.

This is why this issue is so ridiculous. There are so many rules in grammar, even many grammaticians don't agree on what's correct/incorrect all the time. And they're the experts. Most of us just had a linguistics class or two, yet we still feel it's our place to correct other people.

A BBC article I read awhile back suggested corrected one's grammar is just another way to react to an argument that you don't agree with. It said this happens online a lot. I think we all know that's true. How many times have you seen someone who was obviously irked by a comment and instead of disagreeing with the content of the statement corrected the user's spelling or grammar?

It's all very "Oh yeah?! Well, well, you can't even spell!"

You may be well, Hairy, but I am GOOD, DAMN GOOD -- as opposed to evil or bad, and I'll tell you that whether that's what you're asking or not.

; )

It's all very "Oh yeah?! Well, well, you can't even spell!"

Shelly, are you talking about D. Russ?

Don't worry, D. Russ. I'll let you correct my spelling/grammar any damn day.

Thanks. I'm so glad you brought me into this conversation.

D.Russ's avatar makes me smile every goddamn time I see it.

Or, because I like first-person active,

I smile every goddamn time I see D. Russ' (or is it Russ's?) avatar.

L: G or I

Grammar correctors aren't all the same. Some are superior assholes, but some are simply neurotically compelled.

I, for example, often correct people's grammar in my heads. I have to "say" the entire sentence over in my head in the correct way. Some people are hard to keep up with and my brain starts hurting. I have a friend who consistently starts sentences with "Me and ____," which KILLS me!

I very rarely correct out loud, except to my students and/or sister. She hates it.

Russ's

D.Russ' implies there is more than one of me, which is all right because I sometimes refer to myself with the royal "we".

Thanks, glad you like the avatar.

RA, would you hate me if I told you that I've frequently noticed how you say "I feel badly" when it should be "I feel bad" -- because "feel" is also considered a linking verb and takes an adjective ("bad") rather than an adverb ("badly")?

Does that make me B, C, and E on your list of choices??

; )

Re: poor or bad grammar, I haven't been able to find a firm rule, as poor and bad are close enough in meaning and both adjectives, there doesn't seem to be a consensus. (But you'd be surprised at all the grammar FREAKS you find on the WWW when you search "poor grammar" vs. "bad grammar." Not that any of US are grammar freaks...)

When I am writing formally I'm totally obsessive about my grammar. But informally (writing and speaking) I can code-switch like a mofo!

D. Russ, I'm glad that you said "all right" rather than "alright."

(Yes, I'm that idiotic.)

I hate when people type alot, when they mean a lot. It's two separate words.

That is all.

I feel badly now.

Do I really say "I feel badly" often?

Anyway, one of my earliest memories of Jackie was a minor tiff we had over whether APA or MLA was the better system.

It's APA, in case you were wondering.

This forum is considerate public, right?

They weren't wondering, RA, as they already knew it was MLA.
You feel badly? Are you experiencing numbness, RA? You do know that is a side effect of using APA style...

Shelly, I just come her to conversate.

You feel badly? Are you experiencing numbness, RA?

Haha.

*high fives Jacks*

Don't side with the librarian! You'll just encourage her. Next thing you know she'll bring up Star Trek.

Hee! I got a high five from David!
Does that make you feel badly, RA?

Oh, that was a little too snarky, wasn't it. Sorry! ;)

Keep it up, librarian. I know how to use guilt against you. You friendly people are suckers for guilt. You'll be sending me cookies by the end of the afternoon.

Too true.

But not anymore, since you've revealed it's all part of your plan to MAKE me feel guilty. Or badly.

Now you will feel guilty about skipping the cookies even though I revealed my plan.

Cookies would get stale before they reached you, RA. Then I would feel guilty about sending you below par baked goods.
It's a lose-lose situation. I guess I'll just have to feel guilty without the baking.

Nope, gotta give a shout out to my ASA style!

(Actually, I like History's style best. What do they use?)

Krikes! You all are L) assholes. We can all notice the grammar issues but to call someone out on anything, my lack of colon, Bob's actually correct use of "good" RA's constant use of "badly" and Jackie's misguided notion that APA could somehow be superior ... it is just rude.

Ahem. It is RA who claims that APA is superior, Sally.
I prefer MLA.

Heh. Sally said you liked APA, Jacks:)

Oh, ok.

*Folds Jackie into a warm embrace, simultaneously slamming door on RA, who is left out in the cold, slushy rain*

I prefer MLA, too.

I'm going to get a boom box and stand outside your window playing a tape loop of the audio version of the APA Publication Guide (5th edition, of course), Sally:)

Does MLA still have footnotes? Any system with footnotes is not worth the paper on which it is written.

*Opens door and tosses RA an umbrella and a pork chop*

I'll get my video camera ready. That sounds perfect for posting on YouTube, RA.

You do realize it is raining here, don't you? It is cold and gray, and you could end up feeling very badly from the exposure to cold.

:::hugs Sally back, worries about RA catching a cold out there in the rain...:::

It seems to me you could do endnotes or footnotes with the MLA -- but that was back in the neolithic era when I was young.

It is cold and gray, and you could end up feeling very badly from the exposure to cold.

You're slaying me today with your grammatical witticisms, Jacks.

I get the feeling I'm going to feel badly for a while. I still don't think I say "I feel badly" often. This is a myth!

And I'm a vegetarian, Sallers. Thanks a lot.

Once RA has pneumonia (which I used to confuse with the ammonia bottle under the kitchen sink) I'll give him some Thera-flu and read the MLA citation guide aloud to nurse him back to sanity, I mean health.

Meeting time for me. Sally, keep up the MLA defense while I'm gone!

YOU DO SAY IT, RA! I've noticed it many times. You even said it once at Pizza Balls. I was tempted to rub your nose in that grammatical turd, but thankfully I am too much of a gentleman.

*opens door yet again, sigh snatches pork shop, kicks toward RA a quivering pile of tofu. Slams door again.*

Did I? That's hilarious. I was drinking, you know.

You could have said it. I mocked you when you lost your parking ticket three times in thirty seconds.