Poll: Grammar Nazi-ism: Am there a point to it?

[Citrus]

I hate grammar Nazis. Unless something is completely illegible, I don't see why anybody should feel the need to correct it. And if you do, at least reply to the thread afterwards; one of my peeves with the Escapist is the quantity of douchebags who jump into a thread, criticize the OP's spelling/grammar, and then leave, contributing nothing to the conversation. Even if it is a stupid topic and even if the OP does type like he's ten years old, bitching about the quality of his writing isn't going to change anything. It's just spam, really.

This coming from an ex-grammar Nazi.

EDIT: That's not to say I don't appreciate when people can use English properly.

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

I think bad spelling and grammar perpetrated by people who just don't care enough to spell properly or refuse to use a spell check are just...well I don't like it (save for a handful of people, because I like them and I'm hypocritical like that).

Worse still when someone says "it's just the internet". Oh what, you mean the most valuable fucking resource we have that would cripple the world if it were to disappear tomorrow internet?

Hm. That being said I never post just to correct, and rarely even post to correct someone, because I would feel like an asshole, and rightfully so.

 

[AC Medina]

If left unchecked, poor English (written or spoken) may eventually change the language. And I, for one, don't want English to evolve into: "DiD j00 seez da f00tb4ll g4me?! iT wuz Ep1cz!!!!111ONE"

We've already got tweens using internet shorthand in common speech, not to mentioning needlessly shortening words in order to sound hip. We, the educated, must stop it, lest we all be drawn asunder by it.

Bravo!

 

[cleverlymadeup]

However, it costs nothing to use correct punctuation and structure, and it makes you look slightly more intelligent. I know for a fact if I see someone on here fucking up their grammar, I take them less seriously.

why not try telling James Joyce about the use of punctuation and not being thought of as smart

Yes it actually is important and you should ask any editor for a magazine or newspaper about their thoughts about grammar.

why not ask them also where it's more important. they will say that they only care about good worded articles in their own magazines. so them caring about it is more money driven than anything else.

All right, the rest of your post aside, I think you're wrong about this being about comprehension skills.

I care about what I write, so I take the time and effort to make sure my posts are comprehensible. Otherwise, this post would probably be sumthin liek this lul and wile im shur u cann figure out wat im typeing, lets b honest it dont look 2 gud lul.

A post like that tells me that the writer is either not too bright or doesn't care enough about what they're posting to bother following even the most basic rules of grammar and spelling; trying to have a nuanced discussion with someone who doesn't care is a waste of time.

[small]That being said, I've only taken someone to task for poor grammar once, and it's because he sent me emails 7h47 w3r3 wr1773n l13k th15.[/small]

it does have to do with comprehension and has a link to actual brain power. there have been a few studies that say that the smarter you are you can more easily read words that are misspelled, as long as you have the first two letters in the right spot and everything else is there. the only downside is that your reading speed decreases when reading something like that.

as for using short forms of words, being an older geek and starting off my "net life" with a wonderful 2400 baud modem, it's actually something i've done for years, it was mostly for speed of typing, also one of the reasons why i don't always capitalize things. it was just faster to type shorter forms of words.

now there has been a linguist or two that have done studies and they've found that people who do shorten words down actually have a better grasp than those who spell everything out in long form. which brings me back to reading comprehension and the understanding of the language.

so when you see teen girls typing things out in txt speak they actually have a better grasp of the language than those who are the grammar nazis.

oh the irony of it all.

 

[SeanTheSheep]

If left unchecked, poor English (written or spoken) may eventually change the language. And I, for one, don't want English to evolve into: "DiD j00 seez da f00tb4ll g4me?! iT wuz Ep1cz!!!!111ONE"

We've already got tweens using internet shorthand in common speech, not to mentioning needlessly shortening words in order to sound hip. We, the educated, must stop it, lest we all be drawn asunder by it.

Bravo!

I'm really sorry to be a jerk, but this is a bit of a pet peeve of mine, but could you put something else rather than just one word?
Explain why you agree with him, elaborate on his point!

HEIL GRAMMAR

You too, but slightly different, post something with more background,
e.g. Why should grammar be heiled? Give some examples, make a chart, just don't make a simple statement.

 

[The_Echo]

Yes, Grammar Nazis have a point. Their (or, our, as I am one of them) point is to help people learn how to speak properly, even if we look like dicks doing so.

Also, about that list, the part about "alright" not being a word made me chuckle. It's called variant spellings, fools. Everything else is just fine, however.

 

[Wadders]

However, it costs nothing to use correct punctuation and structure, and it makes you look slightly more intelligent. I know for a fact if I see someone on here fucking up their grammar, I take them less seriously.

why not try telling James Joyce about the use of punctuation and not being thought of as smart

It's just a general thing. If I see someone not using grammar, I'll assume they're either lazy or they just don't care or know about the "right" way to construct a sentence. Sure, it's jumping to conclusions, but we all do that right?

Also, it's just easier to read. A constant stream of words is harder to read, and harder to interpret than proper sentences. But whatever, that's just what I think

 

[Xpwn3ntial]

The reason we grammar Nazis exist is to prevent the decay of the English language into 4chan speak.

 

[Dommyboy]

What annoys me is when people just misspell basic words. There, they're and their. Your and you're. Though something worst, people that type mii instead of me. What the hell is wrong with them? That's not being cool and individual, that's just slaughtering the English language for no reason, despite it just being easier to write me.

If anybody is interested, here is Encyclopedia Dramaticas depiction of the issue. Careful, it's NSFW in some aspects. http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Grammar_nazi

Don't forget this great comic: http://images.encyclopediadramatica.com/images/4/45/Sex_and_Grammar_Nazis.png

 

[SpeechMan]

I think bad grammar can be categorized into 3 categories:

1)People who can't speak english properly, but they do their best. In these cases little advisory grammar nazism can actually help them improve their english skills. I count myself part of this category, altough my english isn't the worst, I still make mistakes quite often. Because I know I make those mistakes, I try to write as well as I can otherwise, just to keep my text readable.

2)People who use what was above called "4chan speak". I really can't understand the reason behind this. When you are in a situation where you need to write fast, for example, in-game chat, then there's a valid reason to replace "you" with "u" or "for" with "4". But in places like forums, where you have all the time in the world to write your post, only thing the "4chan speak" does is that it makes your text harder to read and comprehend.

Worst case scenario is when there is a person whose english is bad as it is and to top it off is using "4chan speak", that is often enough to make the text completely unreadable.

3)People who are too lazy to realize the difference between "there" and "their" or "hear" and "here". Those are the people I hate almost as much as people using "4chan speak". Even when I was writing this post, I had to check the correct spelling for "realize", it took one shift+click, writing the word and press of enter, about three seconds to realise that both spellings (realize and realise) were just as valid.

 

[DominicxD]

WAS YODA A GRAMMAR NAZI?

Exactly.

 

[Chunko]

When I first joined the escapist they bothered me, however I now feel that there good because as a result from them everyone is mindful of their posts, and as a result posts are overall better.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

It's just a general thing. If I see someone not using grammar, I'll assume they're either lazy or they just don't care or know about the "right" way to construct a sentence. Sure, it's jumping to conclusions, but we all do that right?

Also, it's just easier to read. A constant stream of words is harder to read, and harder to interpret than proper sentences. But whatever, that's just what I think

i've never assumed that of anyone. cause as the saying goes you know what assuming does. a lot of overly smart people, such as Einstein, have piss pour grammar. so by looking at what someone is saying just cause they might not use a comma or a capital letter is really selling yourself short and possibly even missing out on learning something.

as for me, i don't really care if it's punctuated or capitalized. it might make it harder to read sometimes but frankly doesn't make it any less intelligent or useful

i mean would you really think that someone who has bad cursive writing isn't that intelligent or has any less credibility? cause i'll show you an army of coders, doctors and scientists that have incomprehensible cursive writing but are highly intelligent

 

[LeonLethality]

Hmmm -looks at the title of the thread- ........ -twitches-

I think this answers your question...

 

[atalanta]

-snip-

All right, the rest of your post aside, I think you're wrong about this being about comprehension skills.

I care about what I write, so I take the time and effort to make sure my posts are comprehensible. Otherwise, this post would probably be sumthin liek this lul and wile im shur u cann figure out wat im typeing, lets b honest it dont look 2 gud lul.

A post like that tells me that the writer is either not too bright or doesn't care enough about what they're posting to bother following even the most basic rules of grammar and spelling; trying to have a nuanced discussion with someone who doesn't care is a waste of time.

[small]That being said, I've only taken someone to task for poor grammar once, and it's because he sent me emails 7h47 w3r3 wr1773n l13k th15.[/small]

it does have to do with comprehension and has a link to actual brain power. there have been a few studies that say that the smarter you are you can more easily read words that are misspelled, as long as you have the first two letters in the right spot and everything else is there. the only downside is that your reading speed decreases when reading something like that.

as for using short forms of words, being an older geek and starting off my "net life" with a wonderful 2400 baud modem, it's actually something i've done for years, it was mostly for speed of typing, also one of the reasons why i don't always capitalize things. it was just faster to type shorter forms of words.

now there has been a linguist or two that have done studies and they've found that people who do shorten words down actually have a better grasp than those who spell everything out in long form. which brings me back to reading comprehension and the understanding of the language.

so when you see teen girls typing things out in txt speak they actually have a better grasp of the language than those who are the grammar nazis.

oh the irony of it all.

Oh, broseph, are you really going to go there?

I?m halfway out the door, so you get a quick numbered list:

1. I said poor spelling and grammar are a sign of being lazy and apathetic about the topic at hand, not that I want everyone to spell properly because I'm too dim to understand what's going on. I'm perfectly aware of the studies you're talking about, and I'm able to read the cutely-jumbled explanatory paragraph that occasionally makes the rounds.

2. Look, it?s not whether or not people can understand you, it?s whether or not you?re communicating effectively and appropriately. For instance, I?ve got the charming vocabulary of a gutter whore, which is fine if I?m chillin? with my bros; it?s wildly inappropriate if I?ve been press-ganged into being the adult chaperone for my baby sister?s birthday party. i type like this a lot when i?m on steamchat or the like (and my command of the english language gets frankly embarrassing while i?m playing tf2), but I?d never ever in a million years turn in a college paper without making damn sure every proper noun was correctly capitalised. When you have 160 characters for a txt, abbrv. words is a-ok (I use txtspeak in texts all the time); when you have an entire forum post, it?s rude to scratch out an incoherent, poorly-punctuated reply while expecting people to take you seriously.

3. As for shorter words and typing speed -- eh, maybe it?s because I?m secretly a bitter old English teacher inside this young-person body, but you?re not still using Stone Age computers, so you no longer need to mangle language to fit within certain limitations and constraints. (Then again, I might be biased because I type really fast -- shortening a word here or there doesn?t do me much good.)

 

[Citizen.Erased]

There's really no point in correcting people on how they spell and in my book, you just look like a dick if you do so. When I'm on msn, I don't look at my spelling and it never influenced my writing in real life, so I don't see where people come from when they say that they're saving the english language.

 

[Cmwissy]

If you're making a silly, or not to be taken seriously point - than spll lik dis lol

If you want to be taken seriously - at least try.

 

[Pimppeter2]

What you write is your presentation to the community. If you use terrible grammar then it shows that you have no respect for us

Just like going to a wedding in sweatpants and a wife beater.

 

[Guitar Gamer]

over my dead body will someone without any irony go unchecked kicking my language in it's nether regions