Sue’s Views: Dealing with pernickety people
According to scientists people who are constantly bothered by grammatical errors online have "less agreeable" personalities than those who just let them slide.
There the corrected word stood, blinking like a beacon for all on the post to see, disapproval and disdain dripping angrily in the reply.
It all started innocuously enough. A family member had posted a query on one of our local Facebook pages requesting information on a tutor in the area. Yes, there was a single spelling mistake, but in the greater scope of things, it did not detract from the nature of the request.
Now most normal, sane people would simply read the request and reply with the information. End of story so you would think. But no, one individual had taken it upon herself to correct the offending word and nothing else.
Nada, niks, niente, zilch. She had taken the time to read the request but instead of offering useful information, opted instead to only correct the spelling of the offending word. Oh you twisted sister you!
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The more I thought about it the more peeved I became. What gives anybody the right to ambush a post like this and more importantly, where do people like this find the time to skulk around the internet seeking out misspelled words and correcting them?
I imagine them as being some lonesome, one may even call them loathsome, individual hunched over their keyboard or cell phone scrolling through posts itching to show off their great verbal prowess. Unable to control the urge and unable to resist, like an addict they go in for their fix.
I carried out a snap survey amongst the proofreaders and subs in the office, asking if they were guilty of doing this when scrolling through Facebook. Know what? The answer was a resounding no.
Most admitted that while their fingers itched to correct, they desisted, as pointing out the linguistic shortcomings in others on an informal platform such as Facebook was not only deemed arrogant but unwarranted.
So to all of you out there whose little fingers twitch and tremble over the keypad ready to add your unsolicited corrections to a post I say “Take a long deep breath and scroll on by, yep just scroll on by.”
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