To wonder what positive contribution pedants make to society.

[AgentSpod]

What is it that makes a normally quiet, unassuming person, turn into a despotic dictator cutting innocent posters down with their barbed grammatical comments?

Poor, poor patronised posters, left to rebuild their confidence without a second thought thought from these language fascists.

I ask you...what gives them the right??

their superiority gives them the right.

it's for their own good. how else are they to learn?

Well what they contribute to society is giving the joy of validation and shared indignation to other pedants There is nothing quite as good as finding someone who will rant about hyphens with you. Despots unite!

Your thread title should have had a question mark at the end.

They encourage others to use correct spelling and grammar, which improves the world for all of us.

Loving 'language fascists' .

I love reading stuff in pedants corner, it makes me smile.

SPB - I'm with you on that one. Any thread title in AIBU should make a full sentence that makes sense, starting with 'Am I being unreasonable...' and ending with a question mark.

Hmm and there is also the "thought" twice in your second para.

It's best mistakes get caught out on MN rather than a letter to the School Board, etc, where they'll think you really stooopid.

ooh, SPB, now you'll get me going.

The question that is raised is always "Am I being unreasonable?" so the thread title should repeat that question as a clause then add the unreasonable clause at the end.

So the OP should have put, "AIBU to wonder what positive contribution pedants make to society?" (AIBU is fine as an abbreviation in this case)

it's when they split infinitives in their AIBU..? requests that i hate.

"AIBU to not let...?"
no! it's
"AIBU not to let..?" !!!!

Yes I did notice the 'second thought thought' thing- .... you obviously need your own grammer pedant adviser OP!

Noted Stealth, thank you

Improve the world how Trillian? You're a pedant aren't you, I can smell it a mile off!

nooooo they should NOT repeat the AIBU bit - that's done for you!

"it's when they split infinitives in their AIBU..? requests that i hate."
eh?
that's not english, is it?

"I hate it when they split infinitves in thei AIBU...? requests"

I must admit that I've been wondering whether to point out the unnecessary apostrophes that (which?) are all over a huge sign in my local "beacon" Sure Start.

Sometimes I think it might be helpful for when important visitors arrive since it's right at reception and can't be missed.

Then again they'll probably be tearing the whole building down soon

not, they should - because AIBU? is posed in the board title - it's a complete sentence.

no problem AS, happy to help
I didn't notice the thought thought though.

I was at a meeting today, the agenda had time for "sharing idea's". When we got there, we needed to think about way to reduce silo's.

ooh I see what you mean nb.
I would prefer to ask MNGQ to replace the question mark with a dash or a ... (ellipsis?)

MiLady - point it out. It's the only way. How can it be a sure start when they're not giving them a sure start in the English language?

hehe re thought thought, I proof read it an awl I stand corrected...again rolls eyes at twatting pedants

yes, SPB, I've always believed it should be ellipsis rather than question mark.

or MNHQ, even

There is nothing wrong with split infinitives. The idea that they're a bad thing originated in Victorian times for basically spurious reasons. Sometimes it just works better to use one than to get in an awkward mess trying to avoid it.

I do love the alliteration of despotic dictator
or is that tantalisingly tautological?

Is there anything higher than a meta-pedant? Uber-pedant? Grand Pedant Of The Grammatical Lodge? Genuine question

If we didn't have pedants, we'd all descend into hopeless ambiguity. We need some rules to ensure some clarity in our language.

However, different levels of pedantry should apply to different contexts. In an informal context like MN, then surely the odd split infinitive is not a heinous misdemeanor.

Anyway, I thought split infinitives were allowed these days - certainly in informal speech or writing. The so-called rule only came about after a few ancient pedants decided that because you couldn't split an infinitive in Latin, it would be wrong to split it in English from a pure stylistic perspective.
I probably wouldn't split an infinitive in a formal piece of writing, but it shouldn't offend on MN.