What do all you pedants do in RL?

[RamblingRosa]

I'm just idly wondering where all you pedants are in RL since I never seem to meet any pedants outside of MN . Am I right in thinking that there are quite a few proof readers and editors inhabiting pedants' corner? Any linguists or translators? I'm just being nosy really.

oh God I have just realised that I actually DO carry a black marker pen around with me! It's a mini one on my key ring. I'm always losing mine and it irritates me when I can't find it (for marking up packed boxes, misdirected mail etc.) so I bought this keyring one...
Green pen lives in the handbag...

"True pedants carry green pens - red first and then green!"

Pendant lawyers should surely never need to deploy the red or the green pen - we get it right first time, don't we?

I'm a translator, and come from a family of pedants. My great aunt was a formidable English teacher with an astonishing command of language. I have her pendantry but not her linguistic flair, sadly.

Am loving the swinging in the last 2 posts - pendant lawyers brings fascinating images to mind!

oops!

Another lawyer...

How the mighty are fallen, shown up to be an amateur even as I flaunt my pedant credentials. Oh, the shame.

I'm a sometime pedant and lifelong bookworm. I work as an administrator and have managed to correct some howlers in my work but some slip under the radar are out of my control such as the poster issued by our Trust the other day advocating that 'badges must be warn in this department' . I nearly cried.

I'm still working on persuading my daughter that 'more better' is not a way of emphasising a sentence though .

georgi, I did the same re. pedant credentials - wrote my post, meant to check my data before I posted but pressed the wrong bloody button before I could check.

Still, gave me a great !

I am a student and proofread other people's reports for fun.

I've just remembered that my mum used to get me to proofread student dissertations that she was typing for them (she was a secretary at a college) - I must have been about 11-14 when she was doing this.

An old flame proudly showed me his dissertation just before he handed it in but before I could stop myself, I pointed out that he'd spelt corporation wrongly. On the second page of a printed essay so presumably a spell-checker would have been available.

At that time I didn't appreciate that he was probably on his knees with exhaustion and nearly blind from editing it for hours days weeks. I was probably a bit unkind under the circumstances .

I'm a primary school teacher but have worked as a translator in the past. I, too, was our school's official proofreader prior to amalgamation. Don't know who does (doesn't do) it now but this week's flyers for the Mothers Day Secret Shop (sic) made me cringe...

Journalist, editor and English graduate.

Funny though - I saw my osteopath last Thursday and he proudly showed me the teaching DVD he and his partner have been working on for months at great expense - I read the blurb on the back, jokingly saying "oh I'll just check it for spelling mistakes" and promptly found there was one!

Practionership.

I pointed it out, he looked at it, he couldn't see it. I said, look, the tit's missing. He still couldn't see it and demanded a dictionary. He had even had his partner's wife spell check it and it had been missed. Ah well

I'm a teacher but, despite what you'd think from Government claims, some colleagues are a bit - err- inaccurate when it comes to some of the basics.'I was sat' and ' come and have a word with Flossie and I' spring to mind.

Of course, the pupils love these teachers

(mature ) student of languages.

Although, according to my dm, I've always been a pedantic pants

My father is the most pedantic person I know, and we used to argue fiercely when I was younger, so I learnt from a maestro. For the record, I'm a surveyor, and do a lot of report writing.

I also spend a lot of time correcting the general standard of English in the letters that go out from various members of my team as they tend to ask me to proofread/edit them before they are sent. Yesterday's gems were "anyone have any idea's", the "princple reason....." and "its necessary to complete...."

ARGH!

Ha ha thumbwitch, my mate and I had the same walking dictionary joke in our French class at school

I would like to register myself as a 'wannabe' pedant, a groupie perhaps.

As a humble, semi-educated Nursey, I stand in awe of fully fledged pendantry. I salute you all...

My working knowledge of apostrophes, and ability to note misuse of 'less' at the CHAVSDA checkout warrants associate membership at best. In similar vein, we here at Goth Towers aspire to the middle classes. Sadly, however many Tuscan holidays and sea bass suppers are taken, the Bristol accent remains. As does the tendency to hold a knife like a pen...

I yearn to fully comprehend the wonders of the Oxford comma, and in truth have always been a little flummoxed by the term participle.

However, we here at Goth Towers will continue (with your kind permission, pedants) to watch and (hopefully) learn....

Message withdrawn

I would like to register as 'Pedant: Occasional'. I'm a freelance editor and proofreader and love nothing more than trawling through a text for pedantry opportunities - and then trying to be magnanimous/grown-up about the less objectionable ones.

I think the crack-team uniform should be red jumpsuits, plus webbing belts with pockets and slots for pens (red, blue and green), black marker pens for correcting Tesco signs, adverts, etc. and copies of Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors, OED (or acceptable alternative) and Eats, Shoots and Leaves for explaining your actions to security guards, police or men in white coats who may attend the scene.

Governess and EFL teacher. Also a Chalet School fan and have the correct uses of can and may engraved upon my soul by Miss Annersley.

I'm more pedantic in French though. Now that's a language to get REALLY pedantic about...

Translator, proofreader and interpreter (also EFL teacher for many years). Born to be a pedant , married to someone who is completely the opposite but happily married nonetheless .

Pedant father who taught me well. Modern Languages graduate, proud wielder of red pen and yes, I am the person who emailed Nivea4Men about their "Who would of thought...?" advert two weeks ago.

And a Chalet School alumnus too, frannikin....