Poll: Have I been a jerk?

[Lilani]

Still, habitual usage of bad grammar doesn't suddenly disappear when you're in a more formal situation. Or at least I'd find it more weird if someone who regularly misuses English just switched to perfect grammar when appropriate. If you are never corrected how are you going to learn how to apply it correctly when it is especially called for?

On the other hand I am someone who actually despises anyone who regularly spells like a 3 year-old and are close to strangling any person who tells me they are only willing to adhere to the socially agreed upon basis of a language in a situation where their future depends on it and otherwise won't bother to spell at all. So maybe I'm not the right person to talk here.

The problem here is, we have no idea what sort of mistakes the OP's mother was making. It could have been something "terrible" like saying "There isn't no milk left in the fridge," or it could have been something as benign as mixing up the use of "less" and "fewer." The justification for the OP's actions relies solely upon his mother's grammar being worse than a five year old's, but in reality none of us have a fucking clue. I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt and assume the woman is at least semi-educated and knows not to say things like "I is going to the store now, am you wanting some cheese?" If it's not at least that bad, I don't see any justification for such persistent corrections.

And it is a matter of respect, as well. There's a certain point where people are so set in their ways, trying to correct them is really just not worth the impertinence and embarrassment you're causing them. It's like racist old people--yeah it's all well and good to call out racism when you see it, but really, they're old. They've been that way for a long time, and there's really no point in changing that now. Their opinions on foreigners means nothing in the grand scheme, and it isn't worth pissing off somebody's grandpa and sending him into a tizzy for the rest of the afternoon.

If it were my kid constantly correcting my grammar or misspoken sentences? I know I'd tell him to knock it off. There's a time and a place, and I think it's much more likely the OP is simply doing this for his own sake rather than keeping his mother from asking a waiter at a restaurant, "Is there being a soup of the day?"

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

Totally justified... There is no excuse for bad spoken english if it is your first language!

 

[cakedcrusader]

While it's annoying when someone is constantly messing up grammar and English, there is honestly no way of correcting someones spelling constantly in an every day situation without sounding like a pretentious douchebag. If you're correcting someones essay or something, then yeah that's fine, you're just trying to help. But if your friend accidentally texts you using the wrong "your/you're" or "their/there/they're" and you give them a long winded reply about how wrong their grammar is, well, it does make you look like a total jerk, and it makes that person feel very small and very stupid.

 

[RicoGrey]

Whether or not you are an actual jerk does not matter. What matters is people's perception of you. Obviously your mom views you as a jerk for this type of behavior.

There have been actual studies that show that people in general will view this behavior negatively, so it would be in your best interest to not do it. Specifically people are more likely to view you as arrogant, insecure, and less intelligent. I do not have links to these studies, but I am sure you can find them if you google it.