An interest of mine is frequently trivialized and belittled

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You had better get over this, because it is never going to change.

If someone hires you to improve their writing, or asks you to proofread something, then your grammar advice is valued.

All the rest of the time, it's unsolicited advice and often, in fact, interferes with the other party's attempt to communicate something. It may derail their thread or their discussion. And it makes you look like you think yourself superior, whether or not you do think that.

So stop correcting people's grammar. Doing the same thing over and over (unsolicited "helping") and expecting to get a different result (appreciation instead of belittling) is the definition of insanity. Learn from experience.

My post is, admittedly, unsolicited advice. How does that feel?

Well it can be frustrating if someone interrupts you to correct you, if you must, than at least wait till they finish speaking. But yeah if someone has a point they are trying to make and you interrupt them because they said 'me and my friend went to the store' or whatever instead of 'my friend and I' which is technically correct. A good majority of people say me and them not them and I, they probably won't be happy about it and are unlikely to change their ways.

So also think about how important it is, is it something worth correcting? Or is it one of those 'technincal' rules that most people don't follow especially in informal settings, like if they are just hanging out. I mean I sometimes say words wrong or use the wrong word if theres another very simular word. So I don't mind if someone corrects that(since that certainly could cause confusion), but I certainly prefer if they wait till I finish what I am trying to say.

Now if someone wants to correct me for saying 'me and my boyfriend' or sometimes saying cause instead of because or little nuance things like that than yeah I would be annoyed at someone trying to correct me. I am not going to start saying '(insert person) and I', I never hear anyone say that so I would certainly feel out of place using that wording.

But also sometimes people might have reasons like a speech impairment that affects how they talk, so in that case it can be hurtful to correct them. Like if someone has a lisp and you correct them everytime it causes them to prolong a sss sound or whatever that could be hurtful to that person since they can't help it and they'd probably feel you are making fun of them.

Last edited by Sweetleaf on 04 Aug 2018, 4:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Well they didn't even write the article, so you were essentially being nit-picky and correcting them for something they didn't even write. I mean what did your comment have to do with the content of the article? If you pick out a little mistake to focus on instead of looking at the bigger topic its going to be off putting to people.

I mean what if you were telling someone about something you found really interesting, mispronounced something.
Then instead of responding to anything you just said they just say 'you said that word wrong' then wouldn't you feel a little insulted they didn't pay attention to anything you said, but just focused on a little mistake.

Time and place is important, and in this case it may have been better to post something in response to what the article was about. Then as a side note mentioned that the article title had an error. But yeah if you didn't even respond to the topic at hand and simply posted a comment pointing out the error, I can see why that person had the impression you are being smug.

This is the type of arrant pedantry, up with which I will not put.

That hurts my brain, even though I can figure out what it says.

I wonder how the cougar feels about all this.....

Regarding someone saying I said a word wrong instead of responding to what I was saying, I would be thankful for that, because I would have learned something new. This is what I don’t understand about other people who get offended by this stuff. I guess I just need to accept that I see things in a different way than they do.

But about responding to the topic at hand before making a correction, that’s a really good idea. Thank you for that suggestion.

"I spy a yummy autistic human obsessing about non-essential stuff instead of what really matters in life. Let's pounce on him while he makes a dissertation on whether to call me a cougar or a puma."

There's a saying that goes Pick Your Battles. Is it really more important to correct someone's grammar than it is to talk about the point the person is trying to say

My sister teaches her kids at home. Home schooling, that's right. Anyway, she posts a lot on Facebook. After tiring of seeing her use apostrophes for plural items, I corrected her once. She told me to F off. I brought up the fact that she does home schooling and should therefore know better. She deleted her account.

After that, my mum urged me to apologise to my sister. So I did, over the phone. Phoning people is not my thing but I did this. She grudgingly accepted my apology and resurrected her Facebook account. She still makes very obvious mistakes but I keep quiet and slowly die inside, heh.

I guess there's a time and place for correcting people's grammar. For me that wasn't it.