*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

[ladytalon.livejournal.com]

Sometimes correcting a joke is a bad idea. I saw the bit from today, and the comment was too flippant, and deserved some correction. But I know that's not the only point behind this particular rant of yours. The thing is, jokes aren't necessarily the point in themselves. Sometimes the humor is the point. I recall once when you corrected a quote I typed up, which was about the flat earth thing, actually; you pointed out that way back when, they didn't truly believe the earth was flat, but that fact wasn't why I posted my quote. The way you said it, my initial reaction was that you either didn't get the joke or thought I was dumb to fall for the old myth--but I didn't actually believe it of you, because I knew then as now that you just want things to be correct. If you want to avoid that, however, preface the correction with, "That is amusing, but..." and you won't sound too blunt.

Though, if you want to be blunt, go right ahead. Blunt is necessary sometimes. Some people just can't accept anything else.