If you've ever been online for more than 10 minutes, you probably know that the internet is crawling with know-it-alls. People try to one-up each other in all kinds of fields: pop culture, politics, and even simple everyday physics. If anything, the internet is the birthplace of the "Um, actually," catchphrase.
But netizens also love humbling those who trust their intellectual capacities too much. The second incarnation of the ill-fated Facebook group of the same name, "People Incorrectly Correcting Other People 2.0", is the place where folks post people embarrassing themselves by acting like they know better. General rule: if you're correcting someone, better check with Google first to see if you're not mistaken.
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They are having a row. Or should that be they are having a rough?
Correcting others' bad grammar online is probably the most common offense of the internet's know-it-alls. Maybe even you, Pandas, have pointed out someone's faulty spelling in a comment section somewhere? If you had, you're in good company: many Americans admit to doing the same.
In fact, according to a 2014 YouGov poll, 21% of Americans consider themselves to be part of the online grammar police. Younger Americans, specifically those under 30, said they were more likely to habitually correct the grammar of others.
I pitta the person who thinks they can argue a naan disclosure agreement.
I always hope that this kind of posts are made up, but then ..... I remember there're really people out there that dense.
Ironically, grammar correctors make mistakes too, as you'll see from the many examples in this list. The same YouGov poll also showed that only 60% of the respondents were able to identify the incorrect use of "it's" and "its" in the sentence "My oak tree loses its leaves in autumn."
Interestingly, younger respondents were, again, more successful. 70% of the under-30s made the right correction, while only 56% of over-65s did the same. Other common spelling mistakes people make involve the words "who" vs. "whom," "which" vs. "that," and "affect" vs. "effect."
You have to give it to stupid people for their audacity to double-down.
FFS this is so stupid. They read from the Bible specifically in Gilead.
Those who belong to the online grammar police also have some common personality traits. In 2016, researchers analyzed the habitual grammar correctors and found that they tend to be more judgmental of other people.
According to the researchers, extroverts were more likely to overlook grammar mistakes in an email responding to an online ad looking for a roommate. Introverts, on the other hand, were more likely to judge the author of the ad.
Those sensitive to grammar mistakes were also found to be more disagreeable. "Less agreeable participants showed more sensitivity to grammar than participants high in agreeability, perhaps because less agreeable people are less tolerant of deviations from convention."
Blackberry, plum, Persian plum (prune), redcurrant, and many more fruits are named after a color. BTW, oranges came before the color orange.
There is also a difference between correcting a person with the intent of teaching them and just asserting dominance through such corrections. A 2022 study analyzed this in the context of Twitter. The researchers found that the majority of corrections have no goodwill behind them and simply seek to humiliate.
In 61% of the analyzed tweets, the grammar police "used verbal bullying only to attack the face of authors of the posts." In the case of the remaining 39%, the users were correcting others constructively, "with intentions to correct grammatical errors."
British do have a reason for using more letters, they earn more points in Scrabble and other word games.
It's safe to say, then, that correcting someone's grammar and spelling errors is just a way for some people to feel superior. Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, Benoît Monin, explained to Slate that correcting someone in public makes us feel good about ourselves, and that's why we do it.
In chemistry lab in college, weighing on an analytical scale, we were taught to simply drop the least significant digit (treated simply as an error factor), so in that case it would be correct to round 15.826 to 15.82. But that's a special case. My general rule for rounding is if the least significant digit is zero through four, then round down. Five through nine, round up. My condolences to anyone who doesn't know what "least significant digit" means.
"The way we evaluate our competence is relative to other people,” Monin told Slate. “If I need to feel good about my language skills, one way that I could do that would be to give myself evidence that my language skills are awesome. Another is to give myself evidence that other people's language skills [are bad]. So by putting down other people, I can feel better about myself."
He's an alien orphan immigrant. One of the few immigrants that can be correctly referred to as an alien.
No. Y'all is correct, as it's short for "you all." If you're referring to a larger group, you would use "all y'all."
The main question then is why we love putting other people down. Most cases of correction in this list are people in some way or another making fun of others. Some do it more politely; others do it much harsher. Still, for the corrector, it's often about superiority and control. Even spectators or those who read and "like" the correcting comments engage in a form of ridicule.
Oh, the 9 I got from your mom. She also gave me gonorrhea, but that doesn't help with the math.
Please, please, please, don't vote and don't procreate. I'm begging you.
In 2021, Macedonian researchers found that those who like to put others down and use disparaging humor usually project their own feelings. Essentially, it's how they adapt to the world that might ridicule them. So, to avoid being the victims, they ridicule first and boost their self-esteem. The researchers theorize that they were likely bullied as children, and developed this as a defense mechanism.
I'm not getting into this % squabble. The only percentages we should concentrate on is how Trump is going to get pharmaceutical companies to lower their drüg rates between 400% - 1000%, and this is great news bc it means they have to pay us for taking their medications.
For the extra $540,000 I think I could tolerate the inconvenience of the payment in pennies. Am I getting them all at once? 60 million pennies might cause a storage issue
Do you like to correct people, Pandas, especially online? Would you consider yourself to be part of the Internet's grammar police? Let us know in the comments! And if you're in the mood for more fails, check out our previous publication about people who had one job but couldn't even do that one thing right.
Ooops. Although when I found out the American name ‘Co - lynne’ was just regular old Colin I laughed for about a week (in the UK the Co is pronounced as if you’re about to say ‘cough’, with the emphasis on the first syllable. It’s sort of a ‘normal’ (boring?) middle aged man name)
OmegaFive. Even I know that Zelda, as in Princess Zelda, is a girl. You're thinking of Link, the boy she's friends with.
Remove, as in re-move, or move it again. Clearly that means you're allowed two moves in fact. Right?
Load More Replies...In this case, "affect" is the verb and "effect" is the noun. However, there are situations in which "effect" is the verb and "affect" is the noun. English is not a language; it's a dozen languages in a trench coat.
10 minutes to make one cut means 20 minutes to make two cuts. The student was correct.
ADD and ADHD are neurodivergent disorders, and they do overlap with Autism in some cases. Just keep in mind that Google doesn't always have the correct answers.
Reminds me of Obelix trying to understand the hierarchy of the Roman army and concluding that if the Centurio outranks the Decurio the next one would be the Millurio....
Let's ask Richard Dawkins since he invented the neologism, meme, which he pronounces as "meem".
Depends on which kilt you are thinking of. What we know as a kilt today was created by Thomas Rawlinson, an English ironmaster in the 1720s. He adapted the large, unwieldy "great kilt" (féileadh mòr - a large piece of tartan fabric used by Scottish Highlanders in the 16th century, serving as clothing and bedding) into the more practical, pre-pleated "small kilt" (féileadh beag) which I suspect is what most people think of.
You should’ve seen Shrek and Donkey’s redesign in Shrek 2! Yowza!
Reading this article may cause headaches, nausea, depression, anxiety...
Everybody, say hello to my obsessive stalker troll with a thousand names. Today he is known as Brady. However his correct title is Captain Wafflestomper. Captain Wafflestomper, why not take this opportunity to introduce yourself to the other Pandas?
He must know you. He's so obsessed. Who do you think he is?
Load More Replies...BP has done this type of thread before, and usually most of them are deadpan jokes.
Load More Replies...Reading this article may cause headaches, nausea, depression, anxiety...
Everybody, say hello to my obsessive stalker troll with a thousand names. Today he is known as Brady. However his correct title is Captain Wafflestomper. Captain Wafflestomper, why not take this opportunity to introduce yourself to the other Pandas?
He must know you. He's so obsessed. Who do you think he is?
Load More Replies...BP has done this type of thread before, and usually most of them are deadpan jokes.
Load More Replies...
