Some Observations on Correcting Others
Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2016 5:41 pm
There was some discourse on this forum about the use of their, they’re and there.
I learned (the hard way) as an undergraduate that people don’t like to have their grammar, spelling or pronunciation corrected by anyone, at least not in a public forum or even face to face. One of my professors gave an address to about 3,000 students and other faculty. His topic was not being pretentious and putting up a false front. The word for that false front was façade (French) and he used it at least two dozen times. The address was quite good except he ruined it by mispronouncing façade as fack-aid, over and over. I stopped by his office later, congratulated him on a good speech and then told him how to correctly pronounce that word. He was embarrassed, then angry and I paid for it in his course. Poor stupid, insecure man, bless his heart*.
A word often misused is nauseous, as in “I’m nauseous today.” I’ve learned to reply to this with, “Yes you are but I’m glad you recognize the fact.”
Here’s a quote from vocabulary.com If you're nauseated you're about to throw up, if you're nauseous, you're a toxic funk and you're going to make someone else puke. These words are used interchangeably so often that it makes word nerds feel nauseated!
Think about your own experiences. Do you like being corrected by others on miner things, especially in a public forum? Not likely. So, do to others as you would want done to you.
*bless his/her heart. A southern expression that is often used to excuse oneself after making disparaging remarks about someone else. Examples:
I can’t believe he’s so stupid and uninformed to vote for that vile person for president. bless his heart.
No matter how much she spends on clothes, hair and makeup she always looks as if she lives in a dump. Just proves you can’t put lipstick on a pig. Bless her heart.
I wish that stupid jackass would stop posting things that have nothing to do with woodworking. This is a woodworking forum you know. Bless his heart.
I learned (the hard way) as an undergraduate that people don’t like to have their grammar, spelling or pronunciation corrected by anyone, at least not in a public forum or even face to face. One of my professors gave an address to about 3,000 students and other faculty. His topic was not being pretentious and putting up a false front. The word for that false front was façade (French) and he used it at least two dozen times. The address was quite good except he ruined it by mispronouncing façade as fack-aid, over and over. I stopped by his office later, congratulated him on a good speech and then told him how to correctly pronounce that word. He was embarrassed, then angry and I paid for it in his course. Poor stupid, insecure man, bless his heart*.
A word often misused is nauseous, as in “I’m nauseous today.” I’ve learned to reply to this with, “Yes you are but I’m glad you recognize the fact.”
Here’s a quote from vocabulary.com If you're nauseated you're about to throw up, if you're nauseous, you're a toxic funk and you're going to make someone else puke. These words are used interchangeably so often that it makes word nerds feel nauseated!
Think about your own experiences. Do you like being corrected by others on miner things, especially in a public forum? Not likely. So, do to others as you would want done to you.
*bless his/her heart. A southern expression that is often used to excuse oneself after making disparaging remarks about someone else. Examples:
I can’t believe he’s so stupid and uninformed to vote for that vile person for president. bless his heart.
No matter how much she spends on clothes, hair and makeup she always looks as if she lives in a dump. Just proves you can’t put lipstick on a pig. Bless her heart.
I wish that stupid jackass would stop posting things that have nothing to do with woodworking. This is a woodworking forum you know. Bless his heart.
Until corrected!!!!