Useless corrections and why they piss me off

[Luccus]

Just recently i get corrected a lot and if i state something plain false thats perfectly fine.
I mean i'm smarter afterwards - ain't i?

But some people seem to correct me just to piss me off.

Here an example:

I'd say something among the lines of:
"This tablet is great, but i still prefer working on a real computer."
And Mr. Reelie Thmart would reply:
"You know, a tablet is actually a computer. It computes instructions."

And there isn't even anything wrong with that... not really.
You technically can argue this like: "Nobody calls the following 'computer'.":

or given "It has a x86 CPU and that makes it a computer" these things would be called like that too:

Which really isn't that wrong either but the entire conversation just went from the specs and uses of what ever piece of technology you are talking about to "i wouldn't call it this way...".

This annoys me like hell because that wasn't the point.
Even some mentally retarded evolution throttle got what i wanted to point out, but still i get corrected and the conversation goes up into a fecal matter covered fan.

2 little side notes:

A:
Something similar happened to me in this forum too.
This thread isn't about that incident but the general thing.

B:
I'm german and have properly screwed some grammar up. So please have mercy...
or just read all this again imagining my horrible accent.

Edited November 11, 2015 by Luccus
Trying to fix those images

[MissFleece]

Condescension is dumb, sorry you had to deal with that. Some people just like to feel like they're smarter than they are, so they needlessly correct others.

[Zeitzbach]

Just say "No nerding allowed"

[Sidewalk Surfboard]

Just say "No nerding allowed"

[Luccus]

Just say "No nerding allowed"

Hmm. That actually sounds like something funny i could to pull off.

 

[Luka]

You know, "I" is actually supposed to be capitalized, always.

#uselesscorrections

[Luccus]

You know, "I" is actually supposed to be capitalized, always.

See, this is an useful correction, because I learned something. :3
I thought you only do this when you are an self important asshole... or you just care about yourself.

[DrDingo]

I don't know what they expect to hear. Complimenting in reply would just be weird and stupid.

"Wow! You must be so clever! I'm sorry for speaking like this!"

[Zytan]

Reminds me of someone I know who works in tech support; he's in the middle of explaining how to get the start button down from the top of the screen for Windows 95 and the recipient, an English major (here we go), stops him to explain that he's splitting infinitives... He was promptly put in his place by that not helping him solve his actual problem but I really do wonder why people do this

[AshleyAshes]

Those images broken for anyone else?

[Onnes]

Reminds me of someone I know who works in tech support; he's in the middle of explaining how to get the start button down from the top of the screen for Windows 95 and the recipient, an English major (here we go), stops him to explain that he's splitting infinitives... He was promptly put in his place by that not helping him solve his actual problem but I really do wonder why people do this

It's doubly stupid because an English major should have known that the prohibition of split infinitives was part of the ultra-prescriptivist nonsense that gripped the English language in the 19th and early 20th centuries. They are not even forbidden by most style manuals anymore, and those thing are as conservative as they come.

[Zytan]

It's doubly stupid because an English major should have known that the prohibition of split infinitives was part of the ultra-prescriptivist nonsense that gripped the English language in the 19th and early 20th centuries. They are not even forbidden by most style manuals anymore, and those thing are as conservative as they come.

That would explain why I had to originally google what one was upon first hearing it, sheesh

[#00Buck]

Hmm. That actually sounds like something funny i could to pull off.

 

You forgot to capitalize the letter "I" in your post. 

[Ginpanther]

Just recently i get corrected a lot and if i state something plain false thats perfectly fine.
I mean i'm smarter afterwards - ain't i?

But some people seem to correct me just to piss me off.

Here an example:

I'd say something among the lines of:
"This tablet is great, but i still prefer working on a real computer."
And Mr. Reelie Thmart would reply:
"You know, a tablet is actually a computer. It computes instructions."

And there isn't even anything wrong with that... not really.

Some folks live by the guideline that "technically correct is the best kind of correct," and more than a few get off on the pseudo-intellectual high they feel from correcting somebody - even if the "mistake" is harmless and widely understood like your example above. Some folks have pet peeves where certain things just put their teeth on edge, like hearing another person say "ATM machine." The M in ATM stands for "machine," so it's redundant. That type will sometimes whip out a correction too, though it's less out of desire to be superior and more out of frustration.

It's up to you to sort out which is which and try to be humorously in agreement with the 2nd category while not giving the first category enough of a reaction to fuel their ego.

[Wolflich]

I think most of the time I just correct things other people do as an extension of the habit of looking for my own errors. Like when I read a book and find all its spelling mistakes even though I'm not intentionally looking for them. When you consider that in our early lives we spend years being taught to do stuff like this and having other people correct us if we miss something, it's not all that surprising if we pick up the habit.

[Ginpanther]

@Wolflich Yeah, but you and most everyone else aren't correcting others to the nit-picky level that OP pointed out. I get exactly what they're referring to, the difference between helpful correction (you, most everyone in society) and somebody finding something incorrect about a statement just so they can hear themselves talk and show off their smarts (what OP is referring to).

Edited November 11, 2015 by Ginpanther
a word

[Luccus]

Those images broken for anyone else?

They are somewhat broken... on my Desktop they show up just fine, on my Laptop they do only on my home WiFi and my Smartphone isn't all too sure if they are broken or not.
Here's the passage in pure text from:

You technically can argue this like: "Nobody calls the following 'computer'.":

[PBX phone] [airplane] [robovac]

or given "It has a x86 CPU and that makes it a computer" these things would be called like that too:

[Asus Zenfone] [Portwell IOT gateway] [Intel powered smart TV]

I don't know what they expect to hear. Complimenting in reply would just be weird and stupid.

"Wow! You must be so clever! I'm sorry for speaking like this!"

I don't think anyone like this is planning for any supportive answer... so lets give it to them ;3

They just want the situation to be awkward for you, or maybe they want to start an argument.

[Troj]

Kind of in the same vein, I hate when I'm trying to offer a reflective statement that signals that I get the "gist" of the person's message and that we're on the same page, and they reject the reflection, essentially, by inserting a trivial correction.

So, something like:

Me: "So, you felt mad because they stole your purple hat."

Them: "No! I felt mad because they stole my blue hat."

Or:

Me: "The sky is blue."

Them: "Tchuh, no, the sky is cerulean."

This shit aggravates me to no end, because, one, I feel like I tolerate or overlook people's imperfect reflections or imprecise statements all the time--because I care about the core of their message--and two, because I resent it when I put forth the effort to get on someone's page in a general sense, and they quibble over whether I used the "right" words or got all of the details exact.

I remember one time at a previous job, my supervisor was telling me to do something about emails and phone calls to the office.

Me: "So, do XYZ when we get emails or phone calls."

Her: "OR FAXES."

She did this CONSTANTLY. I'd reflect back her basic point, and in a harried voice, she'd add or emphasize some other detail. This had the added effect of making me wonder if I'd even gotten the basic point right. When you're trying to learn what to do, it's extremely confusing to have someone appear to say "Nope!" and add new details or corrections every time you try to re-state or re-clarify the basic instructions.

Thank god she wasn't a therapist, because I think her clients would've strangled her.

"So, you want me to do these breathing exercise thingies."

"No, I want you to do these mindfulness exercises."

:::client screams, tears off own leg, beats therapist to death with it:::

 

[Gator]

i knew someone who did that all the time.  get in a debate with him, he will harp on about pointless semantics and try to completely change the subject... no doubt to avoid the real topic of debate because he knew he didn't have a case. 

[Red Lion]

i knew someone who did that all the time.  get in a debate with him, he will harp on about pointless semantics and try to completely change the subject... no doubt to avoid the real topic of debate because he knew he didn't have a case. 

I remember that guy, any trivial little detail was worth picking apart just so he could ignore the big picture and pretend he didn't know what your argument was about. 

I've also dealt with people who have pretty much dropped an argument just to harp on my grammar. I hate it when people are like that, they're either trying to show off their superiority or they think you're too ignorant to know the difference. I usually don't bother with proper grammar unless I'm writing something or I need to be formal and just cause I drop a "y'all" or an "ain't" doesn't mean I don't know what the correct way to speak is or that I'm stupid. It also doesn't invalidate my point if I make an argument and my speech is full of slang. They know what I mean, they're just being pretentious little snot wads. 

[Luka]

You people could never fully grasp the plight of the grammar nazi. Tsch.

The proper use of the English language is not an "useless" matter to us! The preservation of it's purity is a noble goal.

[Brass]

I mean you could always start calling things what they actually are. Rather than being retarded and saying "real computer" you could say desktop. Or whatever kraut word you use for various bits of technology.  

[Ginpanther]

The coworker I was already with (the guy who corrects everything) then said "You don't order rain, nobody orders rain, its a natural phenomenon" in the most serious voice ever.  He just stood there and stared at me like it was her and I who said the dumbest thing mankind could come up with. He had no hint of a joke or smile, he just legitimately meant it.

Congrats, you are now the unintentional costars of a "reality" spin-off from The Office; your coworker is the newly evolved character based upon Dwight Schrute. He is here to evoke you to make the back-stage audience laugh when the APPLAUSE sign comes on...

[Luccus]

You people could never fully grasp the plight of the grammar nazi. Tsch.

The proper use of the English language is not an "useless" matter to us! The preservation of it's purity is a noble goal.

I mean you could always start calling things what they actually are. Rather than being retarded and saying "real computer" you could say desktop. Or whatever kraut word you use for various bits of technology.  

Preservation and accuracy are in fact a good thing, but only to a certain extend.
They are useful as long as the point of what is said would be blurred - ambiguous - otherwise.
Brass said desktop to what i referred to as "real computer", because due to the context it was obvious what I meant. No overly exact information needed.

You CAN go "Oh, desktop isn't perfectly accurate. Please specify if you meant a nettop, laptop, notebook, netbook or a tablet-PC".
These all are in fact "desktop computers". But it would be silly (a waste of time you could spent sharing information) to do that.
You already understood the meaning.

Humans are context sensitive because that makes giving out new information faster and less stressing.
We only use 20% of all words around 80% of the time and still share new ideas while doing so.
And being inaccurate might even be necessary, because their are simply too much things around to know what exactly everything is called.

You say: "violin".
I correct saying: "fiddle".

You say: "RAM".
I correct saying: "DRAM".

I say: "super car".
You correct: "muscle car".

Someone in the office says "monitor".
You scream from the other end of the room: "YOU MEAN THE PANEL, PANEL! GET IT RIGHT!".

Sometimes it's just unnecessary. Not always. But sometimes.

 

Also:

"[...] plight of the grammar nazi" ... plight?!

It might be my translation but isn't "plight" supposed to mean something among the lines of "crisis", "misery" or at least "emergency"?
When was the last time you died, were starving or needed to chop your own hands off rolling around in your own blood because of improper grammar?

B.t.w. don't take this too seriously. It just baffled me on first read and when google spit out "Notlage" as a translation i couldn't hold myself back.

[Toboe]

Preservation and accuracy are in fact a good thing, but only to a certain extend.They are useful as long as the point of what is said would be blurred - ambiguous - otherwise.
Brass said desktop to what i referred to as "real computer", because due to the context it was obvious what I meant. No overly exact information needed.

You CAN go "Oh, desktop isn't perfectly accurate. Please specify if you meant a nettop, laptop, notebook, netbook or a tablet-PC".
These all are in fact "desktop computers". But it would be silly (a waste of time you could spent sharing information) to do that.
You already understood the meaning.

Uhm... nope.

Desktop/Tower =/= Laptop, notebook... or tablet
 

 

"[...] plight of the grammar nazi" ... plight?!

It might be my translation but isn't "plight" supposed to mean something among the lines of "crisis", "misery" or at least "emergency"?
When was the last time you died, were starving or needed to chop your own hands off rolling around in your own blood because of improper grammar?

B.t.w. don't take this too seriously. It just baffled me on first read and when google spit out "Notlage" as a translation i couldn't hold myself back.

It's just a case of over dramatizing for a joke.

[Luccus]

Desktop/Tower =/= Laptop, notebook... or tablet

http://www.itwissen.info/definition/lexikon/Desktop-desktop.html

:3

And just because I stumbled across the possibility that "desktop" might (I'm really not sure about this) mean something ever so slightly different in english:
Just imagine I said "thin client" "virtual desktop" or "USSF" or something similar. You surely can just make it up your own.

Edited November 12, 2015 by Luccus
"You know, "I" is actually supposed to be capitalized, always."

[Troj]

I hate having my jokes "corrected" in any form. It's a tiny thing that manages to really enrage me, actually, even when I may not show it outwardly.

It's particularly annoying when the goddamn POINT of the joke was that it contained an inaccurate, exaggerated, absurd, silly, hypocritical, or offensive statement.

[Toboe]

http://www.itwissen.info/definition/lexikon/Desktop-desktop.html

:3

And just because I stumbled across the possibility that "desktop" might (I'm really not sure about this) mean something ever so slightly different in english:
Just imagine I said "thin client" "virtual desktop" or "USSF" or something similar. You surely can just make it up your own.

MÖP

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_computer

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop-Computer

[evan]

I hate having my jokes "corrected" in any form. It's a tiny thing that manages to really enrage me, actually, even when I may not show it outwardly.

It's particularly annoying when the goddamn POINT of the joke was that it contained an inaccurate, exaggerated, absurd, silly, hypocritical, or offensive statement.

i make so many jokes that are malapropisms and for them to just look at me like i am deliberately stupid is infuriating. 

[Ometochtli]

It is really annoying when people get bogged down in semantics, usually arguments, so they don't have to answer properly.

[Troj]

i make so many jokes that are malapropisms and for them to just look at me like i am deliberately stupid is infuriating. 

Precisely.

It's deeply frustrating when a person who has misunderstood me is under the impression that I'm the one who is stupid, confused, misinformed, or wrong. Not only does the other person think I'm the idiot, weirdo, or jerk, but I'm now caught in an awkward position of knowing that they're wrong or confused, and not knowing how (or even, if) to let them know that.

On top of that, explaining a joke usually kills it, and so of course, I deeply resent being put in the position of having to choose between murdering my joke for the benefit of some nitwit, and losing face with said nitwit.

In many cases, I've learned to just say, "I'm kidding," and move on. I actually had a British friend comment snarkily on my penchant for flagging when I'm kidding, and I never had the chance to fully explain that I've learned that I have to do that, because Americans often do not get dry or sardonic humor.

Now, I'm reminded of how much I particularly loathe when some Dudley Do-Right kills a joke by questioning its appropriateness, because that is a stupid argument or explanation to venture into.

I'm reminded of a time when I jokingly referred to a friend as a "Jew-Bu," and another person nervously wrung their hands and said that they weren't entirely sure that was a respectful term. Because I wanted to stay on friendly terms with the person, I just smiled and nodded, because I didn't want to get into a potentially-nasty debate about who gets to use which words and which ones are terms of endearment vs. terms of derision, and I didn't want to just flat-out upbraid the person for, basically, policing how I talk about friends of mine whom they don't know.

Edited November 13, 2015 by Troj