It's not rude or ableist to correct someone on their spelling and grammar. amirite?

I think where I land on this issue is this: I didn't have much in school that I was good at. Math was a foreign language, Science is fancy math. Sports and extracurricular activities I didn't fit in with socially, but dammit I was excellent at spelling. It was the gateway to learning to read, and I LOVE to read. And then society came together as a group and said "spelling and grammar? It isn't important as long as we can understand the gist of what you're saying. There, Their, and They're? Who cares. I CARE. Because I was told it was important and I did my best to learn it, and I am actually good at it. That being said, I don't correct others anymore. I did when I was younger, because it felt good to apply something that I was good at to a situation. But do I still get an annoying tingle when I see the wrong "Your" on an advertisement? Absolutely.

by Laura09 1 week ago

I feel this. I will say that if I were them, I'd want someone to correct me if I spelled something wrong or used the wrong word. How else would you learn? People take you way more seriously when you sound educated. For people who haven't gone to college, knowing the "your" and "their" thing will be very helpful. They're just too cool to be educated, I guess

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I've always said that social media is where punctuation goes to die. But it's an epidemic so I don't. Don't get me started on the use, or lack thereof, of paragraphs.

by merritt55 1 week ago

I agree. Reading level rates are plummeting. Educate people.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

If you cannot understand them, I am not sure how you are able to correct them.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

*…correct someone on about their spelling *This whole "they haven't… …try and *to** figure it out… …it's *simply** a cop-out *…with spellcheck and autocorrect, as do all… …don't *do not** expect others to have to do the work. …can be rude about it, but claiming *that** it's… …correct genuine mistakes is *unjustified**

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I was just about to say the same.

by Delphine75 1 week ago

People don't generally like being corrected and it has nothing to do with whether they realize they're incorrect or not. If you're in an academic environment it's fine to correct someone. If you're having a casual conversation, it's rude. And what's more is that if you understand someone and still choose to correct them, you're being needlessly petty. People don't like that and for good reason. No one declared you teacher of all. You just chose to do that on your own. With that said, I do like to correct people because I am petty. I can admit it and that's how I know what is going on. Still, I reserve my skills for those who try to incorrectly correct others. They're insufferable and no one minds if you take them down a peg. I just don't correct people I can understand. I have a little more social awareness than that.

by ugoyette 1 week ago

Humans make mistakes that's my take

by Elisabeth92 1 week ago

"the only thing they take from it is that you used your instead of you're" I agree if that's the only thing they focus on. If they reply to my point AND point out my grammar mistakes I don't think it's an issue.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Let's be real. We are not doing a good job preventing idocracy and correcting these people is a drop in the bucket. Only a SEISMIC shift in our society's valuation of education will accomplish anything.

by Independent-Month707 1 week ago

Most people really just don't care so it comes across as condescending when you're correcting someone on something they're not even concerned with. I don't think I've ever conversed with someone whose grammar or spelling was so poor that I couldn't make out what they were saying. Even people who don't speak English well.

by No-Pound 1 week ago

All of what you say is true. However, you're not going to make any friends that way. What are you trying to accomplish? You're not going to make anyone's day brighter. It's like being a bully on a playground. Some people make themselves feel better and more superior by humiliating people. Bully's love the internet. Video calls are even better. That way you can tell them about their mismatched outfit. Or how the haircut looks stupid. You know if you did that in person. Many of those people or their friends would punch you in the mouth.

by Impossible-Sky2401 1 week ago

I wish more people would correct my gramma. English is not my first language and it would make learning a lot easier.

by caraokeefe 1 week ago

I feel like people learning English as a second language tend to be more open and willing to learn and improve. It's the native speakers who get offended. To be fair, I've found that many people who learn English as a second language have better spelling and grammar than most natives speakers!

by Efficient-Iron-5454 1 week ago

Not at all, i like when people correct me so I learn

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Correcting someone's grammar is wholly contextual, like any other unsolicited advice. It can 1000% be rude but can also serve a purpose sometimes. The thing is that words have meaning. And if they are able to use their malformed sentence structure or typos to communicate the meaning, then they are working. why should the onus be on the reader to try and figure it out? It isn't - the 'onus' is on the writer to make themself understood. You don't have a duty to correct them, either, except in situations like a teacher.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

1,000% and no comma needed after ....to correct them,..... I rate you a B+ as a whole, but an A+ with your ability to quote others. That is a skill I've yet to develop.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

People who say it's ableist are the same people who think black people are incapable of getting an id.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

If you can't understand them, how are you correcting them? Usually when we say correcting we mean doing a is wrong, you should use b. Is it maybe that you do understand them, but they don't talk with the specific prescriptive rules you follow? It might not be, but this has been my general experience - that it's not an issue of understanding, but enforcing.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

So my question in this particular instance was me asking what they meant as I struggled to understand with their misspellings. This opened up a whole argument on how it was ableist to suggest they needed to improve their spelling.

by Efficient-Iron-5454 1 week ago

Yeah it's pretty rude.

by Casperderrick 1 week ago

i dont think anyone says this

by Anonymous 1 week ago

For me if I want advice I'll ask for it

by Prestigious-Cry6006 1 week ago

Yes it is

by Anonymous 1 week ago

You should try learning another language as an adult to get some perspective. 🙄

by Big_Savings 1 week ago

I already speak three languages and am learning a fourth so I'm well aware.

by Efficient-Iron-5454 1 week ago

I think it's narcissistic, unless you're working on writing something with them

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I think people just want to call everything they don't like a narcissistic trait at this point.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

You think so for this case? It's annoying to have a i'm "smarter than you" person, quite narcissistic to correct every grammatical detail and spelling.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Perhaps the narcissist is the one who can't put their ego aside and take the help. The grammar rules apply to everyone so we can communicate effectively. Why don't they have to follow the same rules?

by Anonymous 1 week ago

No one wants someone to lecture them about everything that they do, you want everyone to follow your rules. You're definitely showing narcissism. Let people learn at their own pace, because if they wanted to learn they would, quit your superiority complex

by Anonymous 1 week ago