【Seung Ha (승하) Archives】

At some point in social media history,Seung Ha (승하) Archives Twitter's grammar police officially crossed into grammar Nazi territory.

I'm not sure when it became socially acceptable to tell strangers that they used the incorrect version of "your." I don't know when we started caring so much about proper capitalization and dangling participles. I find it profoundly disturbing that people now look to Merriam-Webster as a moral authority.

SEE ALSO: Public service announcement: Stop! F*cking! Snitch tagging!

Back in my day, we mocked people who cared about grammar. I was roundly criticized every time I corrected a classmate for improperly using a colon in her science poster project. Group leaders would seethe when I corrected their spelling of "balloon" or expounded on the differences between "who" and "whom."

It wasn't cute. But, if nothing else, my classmates' critiques prevented me from becoming one of those people on Twitter who enjoys shaming random strangers about "it's" versus "its."

Via Giphy

Wow, someone used "they're" instead of "their" in a sentence? Sick burn, bro!

I'm a writer, so of course I like to see proper spelling and capitalization. But I'm also pretty aware that good grammar is mostly a consequence of good education. Teacher after teacher ripped apart my profoundly eloquent Pearl Jam album reviews in middle school, accusing me of passive voice. They taught me how to write about Jordan Catalano without sacrificing good syntax. I wasn't born into good grammar. I didn't get it from reading The Babysitter's Club series. R.L. Stine did f*ck all for me.

Mashable Trend Report Decode what’s viral, what’s next, and what it all means. Sign up for Mashable’s weekly Trend Report newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

Like many others, I was able to write "proper" English because everyone in my life forced proper English on me. I'm a product of good circumstance. That's it.

That's why it's painful to see so many folks tear down others on Twitter for failing to properly pluralize. At worst, these burns are classist and mean. At best, they're just lazy. There are so many good digs to be had in this dump, especially when one half the platform is throwing Keurigs out of windows to protect a conspiracy theorist, and the other thinks they can take down a president with Chrissy Teigen tweets and Voldemort GIFs. Can't we find more sophisticated ways to be awful on the internet?

Listen. It would be great if more Americans had access to a solid English education. Unfortunately, our school system is in shambles and we elected a for president who routinely sends out typo-riddled tweets. Shaming our reality show president for bad grammar and spelling does little to dissuade his most ardent supporters. In fact, a recent Boston Globe investigation found that the president's aides purposefully misspell some of the president's tweets to incite his detractors and make his base feel more comfortable.

Alas. Grammar-shaming isn't a new phenomenon. During the peak OkCupid era, one of the questions on site asked whether "spelling and grammar mistakes annoy you." Apparently, they do for a lot of people I'd never want to date in Brooklyn. Time after time I was complimented by my matches on my solid sentence structure -- the ultimate boner-killer, if I could get boners.

Via Giphy

It was remarkable to me how strongly people felt about grammar and cats and how little they cared about what matters most. (Tidiness! Interest in carbs! Also, uh, love.)

So the next time you're attacking someone on Twitter for their sadistic worldview, go after the meat of their argument, not their sporadic capitalization. Use your 280 characters wisely.

Their is nothing more worthy than you're Time: :its a fact.

---

Featured Video For You

---

Serenade the world with this portable karaoke microphone

---

• Deals
• Digital Culture
• Tech
• Shopping
• Entertainment
• Life
• Social Good
• Science

• The Best CPU & GPU Purchases of 2017
• Fecund Sounds Like a Swear by Nina MacLaughlin
• Beach Life by The Paris Review
• Staff Picks: Bunnies, Berries, and Baffling Omissions by The Paris Review
• Sri Lanka vs. Australia 2025 livestream: Watch 1st ODI for free
• What is financial infidelity and how can it affect a relationship?
• Is Lockheed Martin making South Korean streetwear?
• How to watch Purdue vs. Alabama basketball without cable: game time, streaming deals, and more
• Best LG B4 OLED TV deal: Save $200 at Best Buy
• REI Labor Day Sale: Save on tents, hiking apparel, smart watches, and more

• Lenovo's transparent laptop concept is something else
• U.S. court dismisses most claims against OpenAI in copyright class action
• Google rolls out phishing and malware detection for Android users
• 'Bob Marley: One Love' review: A bog
• When is 'The Traitors' UK Season 2 coming to Peacock?
• All the best signs from Climate Marches around the world
• Best headphone deal: Save $50 off the Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones at Amazon
• Shatner going where he's never gone before: Zero gravity
• SpaceX plans to launch internet
• Google announces Gemini 1.5, a flashy upgrade to its flagship AI model

• The Steam Machine: What Went Wrong
• Nintendo Switch OLED vs. Steam Deck OLED
• Donald Trump tweets for the first time since his ban. You can guess what it was.
• On Effort and Letting Go by Salvatore Scibona
• Google's data center raises the stakes in this state's 'water wars'
• Staff Picks: Ballet, Bob Dylan, and Black Smudges by The Paris Review
• Eggs and Horses and Dreams by The Paris Review
• Memphis vs. TAMU basketball livestreams: Game time, streaming deals, and more
• 9 Tech Products That Were Too Early to Market
• Poetry Is a Volley between the Living and the Dead by Craig Morgan Teicher

• GPU Pricing Update, Year in Review: Price Trends Charted
• UK vs. Penn basketball livestreams: Game time, streaming deals, and more
• Writers’ Fridges: Kristen Arnett by Kristen Arnett
• Redux: Rushing Seas and Dozing Shores by The Paris Review
• Super Bowl LIX livestream: Watch Eagles vs Chiefs on Tubi
• Participating in the American Theater of Trauma by Patrick Nathan
• The Anonymous Diary by Kathryn Scanlan
• Nintendo Switch OLED vs. Steam Deck OLED
• NYT Connections Sports Edition hints and answers for February 15: Tips to solve Connections #145
• The Start of Summer by Nina MacLaughlin