To wish people would stop asking OP if English is their second language?

[PanicAndRun]

Every time there is a OP that goes against general consensus or considered fairly ridiculous, someone will always pipe up and ask if OP is from another country or English is their second language,especially if those threads are about words(fairly common) that were used . Also asked if OP has lots of spelling mistakes.

As someone who has English as their second language,it really bugs me. If feels othering. It feels like you couldn't possibly understand British language,culture etc unless you were born and bred here. Or that a British person couldn't possibly be so unreasonable,so they must be foreign. Not jus that, but so "foreign" they don't even grasp the meaning of some basic,common words,customs or SPaG rules.

English is my third language, but I see far more SPAG crimes perpetrated on Mn on a daily basis by native speakers.

I see far more SPAG crimes perpetrated on Mn on a daily basis by native speakers.

So it's you who asks everyone who makes a SPAG error whether they are British? I hear some people find that annoying.

on a daily basis

Now an educated native speaker would have said 'daily', tout court

I remember years ago there was a thread as the MN was concerned about mice eating her toasted bread.

It was a good thread and luckily the OP played along with it, we all had a good laugh about it (herself included) and we all moved on with our lives.

She was trying to explain how mice eat her toast. PP we’re confused how she must have a huge mice issue and definitely should be able to see them at work if they’re eating her toast. A lot of back and forth as OP couldn’t understand why PP watched their toast especially now she was keeping it in the cupboard ‘why do you put your toast in the cupboard etc etc’.

Her English was amazing but from her original country bread that is toasted is referred to as toast and bread that cannot be toasted is bread (literal translations).

As I said OP had a good laugh about it, cleared up the confusion and explained her theory on toast.

That’s what you’ve got to do in life. I’ve lived in different countries and you’ve got to have a good sense of humour as language faux pas happen.

I feel heartened that other mumsnetters have noticed this horrible trend.
I absolutely cringe when posters comment on grammatical errors. It derails the thread and is very judgy.
I feel gratified that others found the Swimpool thread nasty. It was pathetic how many people piled on to tell the OP that she was bu to not call it a swimming pool ....wtf ...really ?? Could you be bothered ??

@MinervaSaidThat

I missed that as the OP was so nasty I gave up before that point but not before there were 800+ posts of the OP coyly suggesting there were cultural differences which meant her position was warranted. I stand by what I said: she raised the cultural differences aspect!

YANBU, I’ve noticed it too, and find it rude (in most cases). Even if it were the case that English is not one’s first language pointing it out as the reason for disagreement is unpleasant. I work a lot internationally and the work is conducted in English. If I had a point of disagreement with a client or partner, I would never point out that the reason they don’t understand is because English is not their mother tongue.

The funny part is that a lot of the SPAG ‘corrections’ and helpful posters questioning the use of a particular word are just too stupid or uneducated to understand that the poster is actually entirely correct.

A space BEFORE a comma? No, it's AFTER. And what does 'othering' mean? I can guess, obviously but I've never seen/heard it used before.

I didn't want to give last night's example as I didn't want this to become a TAAT and only one poster asked the question. OP objected to her child being called a numpty by a teacher. Is numpty such an obscure word ?

I know the question can be relevant sometimes especially when talking legal,education etc. situations. But I've also seen it used when it's completely irrelevant in a quest for an explanation why OP is being unreasonable or to be sneery.

Being a native English speaker is not a safety net against being bonkers.

Really annoying when it’s clear exactly what is meant.

@Bluesheep8

^
verb^
gerund or present participle: othering
1 view or treat (a person or group of people) as intrinsically different from and alien to oneself.

That's the definition.

Thank you op. As I said, I could work out it's meaning but I'd never seen it used before.

Another example, English homework makes no sense. "Oh they must've used Google translate" or "Is the teacher learning English as a fifth language" . It's fucking unnecessary.

Numpty is not a particularly nasty word. Teachers have to put up with a lot from children.

@Xenia
Yes they do but I'm sure they must have realised that when they chose their career, if not they too are numpties. Numpty is quite mild though, it's probably not what they're saying in their head.

My theory is that a lot of MNers are unfulfilled, bored and bitter. They take whatever victories they can and for some reason, superior grammar skills seem to be the weapon of choice

That's what I think too. They are lots of lovely helpful posters on here too, luckily.

My English is shite but so far I've, mostly, escaped any criticism.