It’s lose weight not loose weight.

I'm pretty sure the rules of the board prohibit correcting other's grammar.

I won't attack, mock, or otherwise insult others. I can respectfully disagree with the message or topic, but I cannot attack the messenger. This includes attacks against the member’s spelling or command of written English, belittling a member for posting a duplicate discussion, or attacking a member for posting in an older discussion. (ie. It’s lose not loose, strong first post, didn’t you already post this today, etc.) Not every member has the same level of education, so I’ll refrain from criticizing a member for not framing their content in a manner befitting a university-level science paper.

I won’t pick apart how something is said; I will focus on the meaning/message.

We all make mistakes on the internet. I certainly make my share, especially when typing from a phone and being subjected to the joys of autocorrect. I am sure you have probably likely made some as well. While I understand frustration over lose/loose, criticizing others over for spelling or grammar issues is against the rules.

https://paintingthegreyarea.wordpress.com/2012/11/26/literacy-privilege/

Since I'm sure my posts here aren't perfect, and typos and oversights happen when you are typing on your phone, I personally choose not to point out other peoples' errors. Not to mention auto correct and ESL users.

My pet peeve is the non-use of the turn signals. Come on, people, how hard is this?

Quite a few common errors hit a minor raw nerve for me. ("Per say", a new exercise "regiment", "Wallah"/voila, phased/fazed, flare/flair, . . . . I could go on a long time, but won't.)

But I'm mostly a retired language peever: I don't really see the point of bringing it up, outside of forums (or threads ) focused on writing, editing, or grammar, except as necessary to clarify meaning (which is rarely - almost never - necessary). In my semi-dotage, I've come to think of language peevery as largely a class marker . . . not "upper" class so much as aspirational. Certainly, that's where the impulse comes from in me, as a first-gen college graduate from a book-smart but under-credentialed blue collar family.

I loved the Marcus Aurelius quote in the comments to the linked blog article:

“From Alexander the Grammarian, [I learned] not to be captious; nor in a carping spirit find fault with those who import into their conversation any expression which is barbarous or ungrammatical or mispronounced, but tactfully to bring in the very expression, that ought to have been used, by way of answer, or as it were in joint support of the assertion, or as a joint consideration of the thing itself and not of the language, or by some such graceful reminder.” – Meditations I. 10, trans. C. R. Haines

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Quite a few common errors hit a minor raw nerve for me. ("Per say", a new exercise "regiment", "Wallah"/voila, phased/fazed, flare/flair, . . . . I could go on a long time, but won't.)

But I'm mostly a retired language peever: I don't really see the point of bringing it up, outside of forums (or threads ) focused on writing, editing, or grammar, except as necessary to clarify meaning (which is rarely - almost never - necessary). In my semi-dotage, I've come to think of language peevery as largely a class marker . . . not "upper" class so much as aspirational. Certainly, that's where the impulse comes from in me, as a first-gen college graduate from a book-smart but under-credentialed blue collar family.

I loved the Marcus Aurelius quote in the comments to the linked blog article:

“From Alexander the Grammarian, [I learned] not to be captious; nor in a carping spirit find fault with those who import into their conversation any expression which is barbarous or ungrammatical or mispronounced, but tactfully to bring in the very expression, that ought to have been used, by way of answer, or as it were in joint support of the assertion, or as a joint consideration of the thing itself and not of the language, or by some such graceful reminder.” – Meditations I. 10, trans. C. R. Haines

"Loose" bugs me as it seems like such a simple word, and I didn't have any idea it was a common error pre internet, and I associate it with annoying and seemingly dumb sports fans ("your team is going to loose!"). I get it for non English natives (English has plenty of oddities), but it seems more common among native English speakers, so puzzling.

I find jargon much more annoying than misspellings, however, and I'd argue that grammar in a casual setting like a forum is flexible and things like starting a sentence with And or But can be stylistically fine. The jargon that drives me nuts (in part because I pick it up) at work is usually business speak. The stuff that bugs me at MFP is weight-loss jargon -- everything is "packed with" whatever it is (sugar, fiber, protein, nutrients), people call losing 10 lbs a "journey", eating fewer cals can be a "lifestyle change". Similar is what I'd call therapy speak -- we don't have opinions or ideas, but we have "shares", etc. Ugh, seems so fake and pretentious and to suggest people are just echoing crap they read in bad magazines.

But mostly I try to look past it and chill, and of course I recognize I have annoying ticks and make mistakes too. (I know loads of people like me who read a lot but didn't actually hear all the words they read and made embarrassing mispronunciations as a result.)

That aside, I am someone who would want to know I was making an error so I could correct it. I feel that way about foreign languages I've learned and also about English (I had a boss early on who taught me "which vs. that" which I'd somehow not picked up in school, and while I still remind myself of the rule when writing formally I'm glad I know it was a mistake I am prone to make, and similarly I had someone correct me for using "a sidenote" when I meant "an aside" and I've always been grateful.) And I'm a terrible speller so don't get being so mortified by realizing I was misspelling something, let alone in a foreign language, when I think the difficulties in communication being fronted can be helpful.

Re Canada geese, I know that's correct, but Canadian doesn't bug me at all. Mostly it's been birders I know who get annoyed at the latter, and I admit to being about the opposite of a birder.

One discussion: http://languagehat.com/canadian-geese/

When people use abbreviations.
It takes .5 seconds to write the full word, don’t assume everyone knows what the abbreviations mean.

I’ve been teaching first year college writing for five years now. Spelling and grammatical errors absolutely bother me, and yet I don’t emphasize them in my classes. If a student is making an error consistently, I will point it out, and I will start deducting points if it’s not corrected. I also penalize a paper heavily if it does not make sense due to numerous errors. However, I put far more emphasis on “higher order” writing concerns: clearly stated arguments, use of evidence, paragraph structure, etc.

The MFP boards are not my classes (for better or worse), but I have a similar philosophy here. If a post makes sense, then it’s accomplishing the author’s goal, and writing in this genre isn’t expected to be error-free. I might be a little annoyed by errors, but my annoyance is off topic here unless someone asks for writing help or is not making any sense.

I used to be this way about spelling errors when I was in my twenties but then I grew up. There are plenty of mistakes I probably make with regard to punctuation and sentence structure that would make someone else cringe. That being said, as long as the message is clear I think that's what is more important. People come to these boards for support and many are in a vulnerable position when they post; the last thing they need is to feel inadequate about something else in their life.

I'm not trying to preach as I'm not innocent either; I'm very direct in my writing and sometimes I lack sensitivity when I post. I have been trying to improve with regard to that and realize that tough love is not always the best approach. Again, the overall message is more important. If someone's post is illegible we can always request that they clarify their intent. I also recommend reading the article that was linked; it's eye-opening. I'm not even a sensitive person and the checklist almost made me cry. It's easy to take the capabilities we're fortunate enough to have for granted.