I *may* have put a piece of spinach in my teeth on purpose. People have had spinach in their teeth for centuries, after all. However I probably did not and appreciate when people tell me it is there so that I don't spend the whole evening with people trying to talk to me but actually the whole time they are thinking "should I tell her? No, she might not want to be corrected"
Many thanks for this piece! To be honest, I think I am probably one of those, but I usually manage to resist the temptation to act when I spot the “mistakes” :)) I can’t help spotting, though! :) You might have contributed to my self-awareness on this issue :) (I am not sure whether “:)” is a mistake or an innovation.)
when I was 13 this was me... I was like "I'm helping people!!" and then I discovered that it's kind of classist and then I got into linguistics and learned about prescriptivism... nowadays I only nitpick punctuation and homophones, and even those I only do in my head lol
I once commented on another Substacker’s post with a query about him using the past simple form of the verb in the present perfect rather than the past participle, (I’m not sure if there’s a term for it) because I was interested if this practice had spread from the UK to the US. I started the query with “This is a linguistics question” so he didn’t think I was nitpicking, but he must still have thought I was nitpicking, because when I looked at his article later, he had edited it.
I can't resist. :) Believe me, though - I proofread as part of my job and I know how easy it is for something to slip through.
"Nevertheless, even *to day* there is still a certain amount of debate about how to spell certain words, such as colour (vs color) and harmonize (vs harmonise)."
It is apparently time for a pizza. Do you do Brio or Coke?
My mother-in-law and I bonded over snobbery of various sorts including grammar. She was lace-curtain Irish; hence, deeply concerned with issues of social class. We were at least self-aware enough to mock ourselves over our snobbery.
Context is all. When I taught writing to beginners or “low literacy” adults I emphasized REVISION and the different kinds of revision such as 1) OVERALL ORGANIZATION (which includes paragraphs and transitions as well as ways of thinking about openings and closings), 2) SENTENCE STRUCTURE and connecting words (where some punctuation sometimes comes in handy), 3) WORD USAGE (synonyms and agreements) and finally 4) MECHANICS (spelling, capitalizations, punctuation) which are often the final details (or the “icing on the cake” best applied after the thing is baked). Of course I was working on the cognitive skills associated with literacy as much as specific compositional skills.
When they caught me in a spelling or mechanical error, it was part of the fun. But sometimes it was often because they didn’t want me to be embarrassed or be embarrassed by me as their “teacher”.
PS. Reading that over, I might have put a comma after the word “adults (and maybe one after “Of course” in the last sentence of the first paragraph. But focusing on overall organization and sentence structure first is often advisable because in earlier revisions one is more concerned with one’s own thinking about one’s OWN ideas. And in later revisions, one can be more concerned with how these ideas might be (mis?)understood or received by certain readers.
when I was 13 this was me... I was like "I'm helping people!!" and then I discovered that it's kind of classist and then I got into linguistics and learned about prescriptivism... nowadays I only nitpick punctuation and homophones, and even those I only do in my head lol
As a scientist, a biologist, I am professionally unable to be anything other than descriptive. I love the nit-picking world, but I trained myself on Quiller-Couch, and latterly on Crystal. I judge my usage all of the time, but hopefully I keep my criticism for myself.
My partner is from the arts, from language and literature. Totally prescriptive. For me the arts-acience split always manifests itself as prescription vs description.
Sorry to nitpick, but I think you meant to say: “even if I’ve dared to cheekily an infinitive here or there split.”
Your so right!
Hahaha 🤣
I *may* have put a piece of spinach in my teeth on purpose. People have had spinach in their teeth for centuries, after all. However I probably did not and appreciate when people tell me it is there so that I don't spend the whole evening with people trying to talk to me but actually the whole time they are thinking "should I tell her? No, she might not want to be corrected"
Very annoying when someone begins their comment with "sorry to knitpick your grammer"
Another good one! Does one pick a nit (as in lice) or a knit?
One picks nits, as and as soon as they can be found. Another will be along soon.
🤓 erm sorry to knitpick your grammar but /lh /t
(if you don't know tone indicators: light-hearted; teasing)
I ain't gonna comment bout dis.
I daren't.
Many thanks for this piece! To be honest, I think I am probably one of those, but I usually manage to resist the temptation to act when I spot the “mistakes” :)) I can’t help spotting, though! :) You might have contributed to my self-awareness on this issue :) (I am not sure whether “:)” is a mistake or an innovation.)
How carefully did you proof this article? More than you normally do? :-)
Actually, less... on principle :)
when I was 13 this was me... I was like "I'm helping people!!" and then I discovered that it's kind of classist and then I got into linguistics and learned about prescriptivism... nowadays I only nitpick punctuation and homophones, and even those I only do in my head lol
I once commented on another Substacker’s post with a query about him using the past simple form of the verb in the present perfect rather than the past participle, (I’m not sure if there’s a term for it) because I was interested if this practice had spread from the UK to the US. I started the query with “This is a linguistics question” so he didn’t think I was nitpicking, but he must still have thought I was nitpicking, because when I looked at his article later, he had edited it.
“Their heart — if they’ll permit me the use of they to refer to a non-specific singular antecedent such as the nitpicker8 — is in the right place.”
I think that you’re being a little too charitable there - most of them are clenched buttock, performative twats.
I can't resist. :) Believe me, though - I proofread as part of my job and I know how easy it is for something to slip through.
"Nevertheless, even *to day* there is still a certain amount of debate about how to spell certain words, such as colour (vs color) and harmonize (vs harmonise)."
Very nice. But on balance, I think I'm going to leave it in. On principle :)
It is apparently time for a pizza. Do you do Brio or Coke?
My mother-in-law and I bonded over snobbery of various sorts including grammar. She was lace-curtain Irish; hence, deeply concerned with issues of social class. We were at least self-aware enough to mock ourselves over our snobbery.
I have a 12-pack of Brio in the fridge as we speak!
Context is all. When I taught writing to beginners or “low literacy” adults I emphasized REVISION and the different kinds of revision such as 1) OVERALL ORGANIZATION (which includes paragraphs and transitions as well as ways of thinking about openings and closings), 2) SENTENCE STRUCTURE and connecting words (where some punctuation sometimes comes in handy), 3) WORD USAGE (synonyms and agreements) and finally 4) MECHANICS (spelling, capitalizations, punctuation) which are often the final details (or the “icing on the cake” best applied after the thing is baked). Of course I was working on the cognitive skills associated with literacy as much as specific compositional skills.
When they caught me in a spelling or mechanical error, it was part of the fun. But sometimes it was often because they didn’t want me to be embarrassed or be embarrassed by me as their “teacher”.
PS. Reading that over, I might have put a comma after the word “adults (and maybe one after “Of course” in the last sentence of the first paragraph. But focusing on overall organization and sentence structure first is often advisable because in earlier revisions one is more concerned with one’s own thinking about one’s OWN ideas. And in later revisions, one can be more concerned with how these ideas might be (mis?)understood or received by certain readers.
when I was 13 this was me... I was like "I'm helping people!!" and then I discovered that it's kind of classist and then I got into linguistics and learned about prescriptivism... nowadays I only nitpick punctuation and homophones, and even those I only do in my head lol
Not only do I know the phone number, I read it in the correct meter. Well done
As a scientist, a biologist, I am professionally unable to be anything other than descriptive. I love the nit-picking world, but I trained myself on Quiller-Couch, and latterly on Crystal. I judge my usage all of the time, but hopefully I keep my criticism for myself.
My partner is from the arts, from language and literature. Totally prescriptive. For me the arts-acience split always manifests itself as prescription vs description.