Confessions of a Recovering Grammar Nazi

We all know a Grammar Nazi.  They pop out of the woodwork when you least expect them, so eager to correct your abominable lack of command of the English language.  While a normal person may cringe inwardly at the incorrect usage of 'your' in a tweet, the Grammar Nazi pounces, completely unable to see beyond the seemingly unforgivable lapse.

As a communications student, I'm required to take an introductory grammar class.  At news of this, many of my friends were very excited and offered forth their personal grammar pet peeves, many of which I will freely admit to sharing.  The class is intended to provide students with a solid foundation in English grammar so we can go forth and write confidently.  It certainly is doing that.  However, my grammar class has produced an unintended consequence for me - it has cured me of my grammar nazism.

I only really began to become aware of the Grammar Nazi when I started reading the comments to news stories, something I don't recommend to anyone who doesn't want to become immediately enraged or depressed or some combination of the two.  While it seemed, to me, perfectly natural to become outraged at some block-head's bigoted opinion, I could not believe the vitriol with which others could attack a person and their argument on the basis of a simple grammatical error. 

A discussion in my grammar class about why Grammar Nazis are so enthusiastic got me seriously rethinking my own grammar superiority complex.  When I judge someone for poor grammar use, what am I really judging them for? A bad education? Low intelligence?  A lack of understanding of accepted cultural norms? It really isn't much of a stretch from there to the fringes of our society or a person's culture itself.  When I judged someone for their bad use of grammar was I really judging them for being poor?  The idea made me a little sick.

Apart from teaching me the rules, my grammar class has imparted a healthy appreciation for where they come from.  Which is pretty much nowhere.  There is no wizard in the sky who dictates the rules of English to us.  English has evolved and continues to do so.  It is a child of popular culture.  'Ain't' was perfectly acceptable and used by upper classes in the 19th century until it fell to popular use and became a marker for the working class.  So if the 'rules' have been made up while we went along, who am I to impose them on anyone else?  And if the rules exist to make sure that we can be understood, and if my brain is smart enough to understand your meaning in spite of your grammar, what the problem is?

I admit to correcting someone's grammar on a Facebook post a couple of years ago and feeling pretty smug at the time about it.  Thinking back on it now, I realize that I did it more to be an asshole than anything else.  And that's what Grammar Nazis are: assholes.  No one looks at a snarky grammar comment or twitter reply and says to themselves "Gosh, that person really is smart".  While you are congratulating yourself on your service to the English language, I'm wondering what you're overcompensating for.  When you viciously attack someone for a simple grammatical mistake, you are not proving your superiority.  You are proving that you're a dick with good grammar. 

So I'm giving it up.  I was taught not to judge people unfairly based on how they are dressed or what race they are.  Why shouldn't that extend to how they speak or write?  I believe the expression is, live and let live, ain't it?

Disagree?  Let's fight - with words! Over coffee!  And by coffee I mean beer!