*screams*

[conuly]

If you make a factual error, and somebody corrects you, it's not necessarily because they don't have a sense of humor, or because they don't like you. It could very easily be simply because you. are. wrong.

And there doesn't have to be any other reason than that! No, I'm not taking things too seriously. I don't like to be wrong. If I spell something wrong, I want to be told so that I don't keep making the same stupid mistake. If I say, erroneously, that educated people used to believe that the world was flat, then I expect to be corrected so I'll stop saying things that are wrong. (Columbus not only failed to prove that the world was round, he wasn't expected to. That had been proven back in ancient Greece.)

And there doesn't have to be any other reason than that people shouldn't say things that are wrong. The next person to come up and randomly ask me "why do you care?" when they or somebody else makes some huge-ass mistake is going to get smacked, I swear. I care because I. Don't. Like. Things. Being. Wrong. Period, end of story, I don't need another reason, and if you had any self-respect you'd endeavor not to make stupid mistakes.

This, of course, only applies to matters of fact, not matters of opinion. For example, gaol isn't a stupid spelling mistake for jail, it's an actual spelling in many places. Okay, my opinion is that it's a stupid spelling, but so are many things in the English orthography. I try not to pay them much heed.

Comments

[xiggaroo.livejournal.com]

You also don't have to correct people *every* time they're wrong. Being wrong SOMETIMES is a part of being, you know, a person. Even if said person doesn't like to admit when they're wrong. When you get into the habit of ALWAYS correcting mistakes people make, it can really cloud the relationship between the two people and make it hard for the person who is always wrong to be around the person who is always right. Because they feel like a fucking moron, even if they aren't.

I understand you don't like to be wrong, but no one has to be right 100% of the time. And really, you can have your own goals (like being right all the time), but trying to impose that on the people around you is sort of foolish. It's setting yourself up to be very disappointed (because most people you'll find AREN'T always right), and it also makes for a very hard relationship.

I guess maybe sometimes it's good to look at things from a different perspective, right...?