Why do people enjoy picking others up on their spelling or grammar

[TakeMeDrunkImHome]

i have noticed this a LOT here, and i am fairly new. Is there some kind of badge that is awarded if you spell every word correctly and use every term in the correct way. Some people seem to respond to a particular thread just to correct the OP with their spelling or punctuation or grammar. WHY? Not everyone has a masters in english. Not everyone is awesome with spelling or grammar. Is it some way of making yourself look better than the next person?

I wouldn't worry about them TBH. Tell them to go to pedants corner if they can't stand mistakes

I guess, it just annoys me a lot. I have always struggled with grammar and punctuation but there is always somebody who will jump in, with a silly patronising emoticon, and correct the OP/next person, although there is some kind of trophy at the end of the thread for the person who spelt the best.

It's just a quirk of mumsnet. We like to keep out the riff-raff

Heh heh, you need to meet our mistress of misspelling, ChaosTrulyReigns. Angels direct her hands, I tell you. [wunk]

In fairness I understand the lack of tolerance for "txt spk" as I hate it but sometimes it seems that a lack of an apostrophe is grounds for patronising emoticons. Not everybody can speak or read Latin or twenty other languages, some people are very educated and intelligent but perhaps struggle with other aspects of education. We are all sooooo nice for the sake of political correctness but jump on the next woman who may not have a university level of english reading/writing.

Well i struggle with grammar and spelling, i always have, im not stupid or uneducated but when i see people posting on a thread for the sake of embarassing the OP with their spelling or grammar it makes me uncomfortable and embarassed.

Misspell all you like, use whatever grammar floats your boat. I have far more issues with 'content'.

Agreed but i often feel "inferior" when people choose to quote latin phrases. The most latin i ever knew was the printed lettering on my sofa.

And I don't think i do misspell. But gawd it is an effort to start ever sentence with a capital. who cares..

There is no excuse for lack of punctuation though .

What if you struggle with punctuation and sit at your computer thinking oh crap where am i sposed to punctuate here and if i don't get it right i will be spoken to in latin and made to feel stupid.

I am talking basics here ...

a full stop or comma :)

I can not believe anyone can struggle with that ?

I don't care about spellings so much ...but ,I like to be understood so I try to make sure I make things easy to read .

I wouldn't start quoting any latin ,I don't know any

Am perhaps a bit OTT tonight. Attention seeking maybe

I had a sofa that had latin phrases printed all over it. Lupus in fabula became a ditty we would sing after consuming too much vino apparently it means in conversation with the wolf

Errare humanum est, IMHO.

Well ,I don't think you have anything to worry about ,your posts are just fine :)

Why do people enjoy picking others up on their spelling or grammar

Because picking apart someone's content is a helluva lot more difficult, especially when you know the other person is right/has a very good point!

Ironically I notice it is the posters who aren't clever enough to argue their point but still want to be seen as the clever one. hark at me, I have access to a dictionary! Can't abide txt spk though

YABU, if people didn't pick other people up on their grammar/spelling then we wouldn't have those delicious moments when the person doing the correcting fucks it up themselves and we can all point and laugh.

It is the simple things in life...

Agree with Morloth. I do wonder at times whether Mumsnet has considered enforcing a rule that means you have a degree in English before registering...

Text speak does annoy me, though. And I can just about forgive the wrong use of "there", "their" and "they're" or "your" and "you're". But I had a message on facebook a few weeks back asking "wood you like to go out some time..." He made the same mistake four times... Directing to a dictionary in those cases is acceptable

Nolite te bastardes carborundorum!

I don't give a crap moi.

Please, planetofthegrapes. It's "I don't give a crap, moi"

With a full stop at the end, obviously.

Grr!!!!

My 2 pet hates - using "your" instead of "you're" and "of" instead of "have"

It grates but I grit my teeth and move / read on.

Good spelling and grammar are signs of good communication, and communication is what fora are all about.

On a maths forum, you wouldn't get people writing algorithms wrong, would you?

YABU... If the message itself is friendly and good-natured, few correct the English. If the poster is making some ignorant comment (and it's revealing how often poor grammar and offensive remarks go together) then they'll get picked up on both.