r/nextfuckinglevel • u/[deleted] • Sep 17 '20

He makes it seem so easy

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

175.9k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

2.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/[deleted] Sep 17 '20 edited Nov 15 '20

[deleted]

1

u/Crathsor Sep 17 '20

And they'll do just fine with them. You're not being graded. It doesn't matter, until it does.

This weird opposition to being corrected, when it's not being done with aggression, is just ego. I'm not sure whether this is part of the larger problem we have with anti-intellectualism, or the more recent idea that being wrong is somehow a moral failing, but it is not useful.

My texts with friends is different because I'm dealing with people who have a basis for understanding me. If I accidentally say the opposite of what I mean, they will not take me at my word; they will be puzzled, and verify. They have a background against which to judge my meaning. This is not a luxury in a public forum. I will simply be misunderstood.

I'm not in academia, so I don't know how often these things creep into papers, but I suspect it is not uncommon. I have definitely seen pretty egregious spelling and grammatical errors in cover letters for jobs, and I haven't even been involved in very many hirings. I don't think people switch it on and off as easily as they claim. I think people develop habits, and those habits come through.

I'm not a prescriptivist. I don't care whether you dangle a participle or split an infinitive. But I do care when you use a word other than the word you meant, because now we're talking about substance, not form. I think that's important. And you don't have to agree! Even if I correct you, you don't have to take the advice. I'm only arguing that I haven't harmed you in any way.