on an unusually apolitical note

[tim]

Has anyone else become completely unable to summon up any passion about correct grammar or spelling since reading this article from Stuff White People Like? An excerpt:

When asking someone about their biggest annoyances in life, you might expect responses like “hunger,” “being poor,” or “getting shot.” If you ask a white person, the most common response will likely be “people who use ‘their’ when they mean ‘there.’ Maybe comma splices, I’m not sure but it’s definitely one of the two.”

Comments

[rebbyribs.livejournal.com]

I'm annoyed by my new habit of reading everything for grammar and spelling. It's probably the thing I like least about editing.

[marcellinafuriosa]

It still bothers me. I don't harass people about it any more (though I am tempted to harass the editorial staff of the WSJ, Times et al when they play "pick a preposition, any preposition will do".)

And "annoying" things are different, in my book, from "things which fill me with terror, despair and/or righteous rage." Hunger, poverty and violence fall into the latter category.

Of course, I am something of a Music Hall Caricature of a White Person (notice I didn't even say Vaudeville.) Maybe I can move to Old Sturbridge Village.

[luinied]

Maybe this is nitpicking, but would anyone really refer to "hunger", "being poor", or "getting shot" as an annoyance?

The grammar/spelling fans I know have never seemed to give it top priority among things that bug them; the ones who've sounded really angry at such things have been people who were just generally inclined to anger at relatively minor things. (With me, it's less about the joy of rules and more about whether or not I'm able to get a consistent voice for whatever I'm reading. But yes, I do realize that my relationship with reading is very much due to my being very privileged.)

I read your responses on Facebook already, but that site will always come of oddly to me given all the time I spent surrounded by white people with very, very different tastes.