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"
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)."
But you used a dash where it didn’t belong; and even if it had belonged there, it would have been wrong, because you used a hyphen. (Haha. Proofreader here too!)
I have to admit that I tend to use dashes a lot (and probably not always correctly) in my less formal writing. Maybe it would be best not to use that style when "correcting" someone else, though I was being a bit tongue in cheek there. :D Also, despite being on a Mac, where it's much easier (-, –, —), I find that I've gotten too lazy to use proper dashes. It doesn't help that on my PC at work I use Word, which will automatically change a hyphen to a dash when you hit the spacebar after the next word. On the other hand, some people also object to beginning a sentence with a conjunction, although I'm not one of them. ;)
Haha, yes, too many rules. But for me, those dashes on the Mac keyboard are wonderful — along with lots of other handy punctuation marks that I would struggle to live without (ellipses, curly quotes etc.). I’m sorry you have to deal with a PC at work (and Word!). That must be hard.
Yes! We started with Macs but they took them away and replaced them with PCs sometime in the aughts. It was very traumatic. We did phonebooks (we still have a few floating around, I think) but now it's mostly digital advertising. I think that only the web designers still have Macs.
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.
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 like your observation that linguists must use prescribed language to describe variations. All measurement works this way. We use the same kilogram and meter and hectare so we can describe drams and barleycorns and hydes in a consistent way.
Incidentally, while doing a tech history piece on weights and balances, I encountered a document from the 1300s that spelled avoirdupois 8 different ways in a few pages.
And yet, not all measurements do work that way. In science, we strive for consistency, in math we're embarrassed (or sometimes proud) of inconsistency, engineers just shrug it off and consult a table that makes things close enough. But ordinary people don't always see the importance, politicians and lawyers don't always even consider consistency desirable.
I identify as a “nitpicker.” My excuse is that awkwardly phrased sentences and/or incorrect usage of a word hurts my ears much as being off-key hurts a musician’s ears. Malapropisms are the bane of my existence; unfortunately, they run in my husband’s vocabulary! 😆. (BTW, he winces when I change key in the middle of a song.)
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
i really loved this piece! what i wanted to share is an experience i had with a professor recently on computational linguistics when i had to submit a short paper. when describing what he wanted on the paper he informed us that if we are struggling with dictation we can use our own system but we should “describe” said system so he can see the patterns. it was written in greek and generally the older people here are overly protective of the greek language and i was really impressed by what the professor said🥹
Sorry to nitpick, but I think you meant to say: “even if I’ve dared to cheekily an infinitive here or there split.”
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"
I ain't gonna comment bout dis.
I daren't.
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 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 :)
But you used a dash where it didn’t belong; and even if it had belonged there, it would have been wrong, because you used a hyphen. (Haha. Proofreader here too!)
I have to admit that I tend to use dashes a lot (and probably not always correctly) in my less formal writing. Maybe it would be best not to use that style when "correcting" someone else, though I was being a bit tongue in cheek there. :D Also, despite being on a Mac, where it's much easier (-, –, —), I find that I've gotten too lazy to use proper dashes. It doesn't help that on my PC at work I use Word, which will automatically change a hyphen to a dash when you hit the spacebar after the next word. On the other hand, some people also object to beginning a sentence with a conjunction, although I'm not one of them. ;)
Haha, yes, too many rules. But for me, those dashes on the Mac keyboard are wonderful — along with lots of other handy punctuation marks that I would struggle to live without (ellipses, curly quotes etc.). I’m sorry you have to deal with a PC at work (and Word!). That must be hard.
Yes! We started with Macs but they took them away and replaced them with PCs sometime in the aughts. It was very traumatic. We did phonebooks (we still have a few floating around, I think) but now it's mostly digital advertising. I think that only the web designers still have Macs.
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
The American Way.
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.
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!
I like your observation that linguists must use prescribed language to describe variations. All measurement works this way. We use the same kilogram and meter and hectare so we can describe drams and barleycorns and hydes in a consistent way.
Incidentally, while doing a tech history piece on weights and balances, I encountered a document from the 1300s that spelled avoirdupois 8 different ways in a few pages.
And yet, not all measurements do work that way. In science, we strive for consistency, in math we're embarrassed (or sometimes proud) of inconsistency, engineers just shrug it off and consult a table that makes things close enough. But ordinary people don't always see the importance, politicians and lawyers don't always even consider consistency desirable.
I identify as a “nitpicker.” My excuse is that awkwardly phrased sentences and/or incorrect usage of a word hurts my ears much as being off-key hurts a musician’s ears. Malapropisms are the bane of my existence; unfortunately, they run in my husband’s vocabulary! 😆. (BTW, he winces when I change key in the middle of a song.)
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
i really loved this piece! what i wanted to share is an experience i had with a professor recently on computational linguistics when i had to submit a short paper. when describing what he wanted on the paper he informed us that if we are struggling with dictation we can use our own system but we should “describe” said system so he can see the patterns. it was written in greek and generally the older people here are overly protective of the greek language and i was really impressed by what the professor said🥹