An Open-Letter to The SF Grammar-Nazis

[FidelCashflow]

An open-letter to the few lurking grammar-nazis on SF:

Previous posts beg the question: (

) WTF? Why are you so obsessed with other people's grammar and spelling on an internet forum!? Obviously you understand what they're saying if you're responding. Are you all English lit majors bitter about flipping burgers and Burger King? Is it your way of participating without actually saying anything useful? I'm amazed how people try to tear down other people by attacking the most insignifcant possible aspects of their posts. Are you going to criticize people's choice of fonts next?

Rant over.

-Fidel CashFlow

 

[lawyerdad]

Originally Posted by FidelCashflow

An open-letter to the few lurking grammar-nazis on SF:

Previous posts beg the question: (

) WTF? Why are you so obsessed with other people's grammar and spelling on an internet forum!? Obviously you understand what they're saying if you're responding. Are you all English lit majors bitter about flipping burgers and Burger King? Is it your way of participating without actually saying anything useful? I'm amazed how people try to tear down other people by attacking the most insignifcant possible aspects of their posts. Are you going to criticize people's choice of fonts next?

Rant over.

-Fidel CashFlow

Personally, I'm an English lit major who is occasionally bitter about practicing law. I don't think "grammar Nazis" should be hyphenated. The hu kares about grammer n spelling ennywae if you can unnderstand what i'm saying argument has been hashed to death here as well as elsewhere.
kthxbye

 

[skalogre]

Originally Posted by FidelCashflow

An open-letter to the few lurking grammar-nazis on SF:

Previous posts beg the question: (

) WTF? Why are you so obsessed with other people's grammar and spelling on an internet forum!? Obviously you understand what they're saying if you're responding. Are you all English lit majors bitter about flipping burgers and Burger King? Is it your way of participating without actually saying anything useful? I'm amazed how people try to tear down other people by attacking the most insignifcant possible aspects of their posts. Are you going to criticize people's choice of fonts next?

Rant over.

-Fidel CashFlow

Uhm, don't you mean Fidel Cash-Flow?

 

[tiecollector]

I posted this in another thread, but it is appropriate here as well.

 

[Go Surface]

Is that Giuliani? ^

 

[whodini]

Originally Posted by GoSurface

Is that Giuliani? ^
Col. Klink, I believe. This debate is old and this thread just makes it older. I don't try to dumb things down for the reader as doing so is rather insulting; it assumes that both the writer and reader have fifth grade educations and possible mental handicaps.

 

[dkzzzz]

Grammar often gives temporary shelter to superiority complexes of those who vigorously observes it.


P.S. Grammar and punctuation are completely arbitrary and constantly changing, so yea I'd say who cares.

 

[teddieriley]

"Previous posts" do not "beg the question." I believe this is an improper use of the phrase. Wikipedia has an insightful discussion of how "begging the question" has been improperly over used. It does not mean, "leads to the question." I think there was a discussion about that here as well.

I think your rant is meaningless. I don't think people go ballistic on typos, one-off improper word usage, or knowing that the poster's primary language is not English. But when it is apparent someone does not know how to use a word or spell it correctly, it should be brought to his attention. Here's one for you: "definately" or "defiantly" for "definitely." A sixth grader should and would know how to spell that word. I will tell you you got it wrong because it annoys the hell out of me. Unless you are a fourth or fifth grader, then I forgive you.

 

[lawyerdad]

Originally Posted by dkzzzz

Grammar often gives temporary shelter to superiority complexes of those who vigorously observes it.

 

[dusty]

I know you're referring to me, at least in part. As such, I must ask you to quit crying. We're only trying to help!

 

[LabelKing]

Why does "Nazis" have an apostrophe?

Plurals are not possessive.

 

[Go Surface]

Originally Posted by whodini

Col. Klink, I believe.

That's actually someones name? I thought mine was bad.

Originally Posted by dkzzzz

Grammar often gives temporary shelter to superiority complexes of those who vigorously observes it.


P.S. Grammar and punctuation are completely arbitrary and constantly changing, so yea I'd say who cares.

And, what he said.

 

[whodini]

Col. Klink's a character from the show "Hogan's Heroes."

 

[Go Surface]

Probably before my time. I've not seen one episode of Hogans Heroes.

 

[alliswell]

Originally Posted by dkzzzz

Grammar often gives temporary shelter to superiority complexes of those who vigorously observes it.


P.S. Grammar and punctuation are completely arbitrary and constantly changing, so yea I'd say who cares.

Just like style, but each of us believes that there's a right way to do things...

Originally Posted by FidelCashflow

An open-letter...


If you were walking down the street with your suit jacket incorrectly buttoned, I'd stop you and point it out, so that you would no longer look like someone incapable of dressing himself in the eyes of others. This is not tearing you down, this is altruism.

You made it three words into an argument that you want to be taken seriously before you made an error that suggests that you can't write correctly, or that you're a non-native English speaker. My response is the same: how much work am I going to have to do to disentangle writing errors from logic errors in order to understand this argument? The same altruistic instinct will prompt me to correct you, so that your argument can be read clearly and treated on its merits, rather than deciphered or dismissed.

In both of these cases, you can justifiably be embarassed and angry. That can't be helped. But if you wanted to be treated with the respect and seriousness that you fully deserve, it's easiest in the long run to play by the rules.