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| 3 | %% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks! |
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| 6 | %% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1550037236098702700 |
| 7 | %% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread. |
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| 9 | [[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/{{Sinfest}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/grammar_nazi.png]]]][[caption-width-right:350: And so begins the first [[{{Pun}} Word]] War.]] |
| 10 | |
| 11 | ->''"Sorry, I was confused by your double negative. You see, grammar is very important to the Nazi Party."'' |
| 12 | -->-- '''Col. Hans Landa''', ''Website/CollegeHumor'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4vf8N6GpdM parody]] of ''Film/InglouriousBasterds'' |
| 13 | |
| 14 | Somewhere along the line, Grammar Nazis got more into the form than the content. To them, the rules of grammar are SeriousBusiness. The name was, of course, [[AppropriatedAppellation invented and first used]] by people with poor syntax, spelling or punctuation as a snarky way to snip back at those who corrected their errors. The "grammar" in their name has a broad application, meaning Grammar Nazis will also happily pick on you for any perceived errors in spelling, punctuation, word usage, semantics, syntax, sentence structure, capitalization... |
| 15 | |
| 16 | On wikis, Grammar Nazis sometimes leave snarky little notes in discussion areas about the correct use of italics or where the apostrophe goes in "its/it's." They don't add any new content -- except possibly passive-aggressive "help" articles on proper usage of the semicolon. At their worst, they are known for insisting on "rules of English" which are derived from French and other Latin-descended languages and were invented for the sole purpose of annoying English speakers. They'll also likely become a [[Administrivia/TVTropesGlossary Serial Tweaker]], careful to quickly correct their own mistakes. (We hope.) |
| 17 | |
| 18 | To give an example of how complicated and factious this can become, the French faction believes one is never to split infinitives because Latin and many other European languages cannot. [[PrepositionsAreNotToEndSentencesWith Ending a sentence with a preposition]] is also something they will not tolerate, even if it invariably leads to awkward or confusing renderings.[[note]]That is, to use the old joke, it's something up with which they will not put. [[DontExplainTheJoke This is incorrect because]] ''[[DontExplainTheJoke up]]'' [[DontExplainTheJoke is here part of a phrasal verb, not a preposition.]][[/note]] More moderate Grammar Nazis, ironically, strive to treat English like the Germanic language it is. And in German, a Germanic language, ''Infinitiv mit zu'' (infinitive with ''zu'') is never split, although it could be. ''Merke dir, niemals den Infinitiv zu trennen.'' Meanwhile, a Descriptivist will show up to point out that English is free to follow its own grammatical rules and [[JustForFun/TheZerothLawOfTropeExamples even Shakespeare was known]] [[SelfDemonstratingArticle to occasionally split an infinitive]]. A FlameWar ensues. Can't we all just get along? No, because [[ComicallyMissingThePoint "along" is a preposition]]... |
| 19 | |
| 20 | It is worth noting that those who are properly educated about such things realise that the prohibitions on split infinitives are artificial and incorrect. Similarly, they will know that it is okay to start a sentence with "And" or "But", or to say "It is me", rather than the supposedly superior "It is I". Professional Linguists are the opposite of Grammar Nazis: they consider "correct" language to be the way it's "actually" used, rather than pinned to specific rules because language is always ''changing''. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | A Spelling Nazi is a subtype of Grammar Nazi, specializing in spelling. A Spelling Nazi would actively fight the RougeAnglesOfSatin. A Spelling Nazi would make sure that "definately" was written by "definitely" and not "defiantly". A Spelling Nazi would always spell the names of the characters, settings, attacks, and {{MacGuffin}}s in its fandom correctly if the correct spellings are known (and [[InconsistentSpelling if they aren't]], then expect those of different ideologies to try to tear one another's throats out over which is more "correct"). And [[SeparatedByACommonLanguage God save us all if a British Spelling Nazi ever meets an American one]]. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | If a character insists on using impeccable grammar in conversation, it's equal parts this trope, RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic, and SpockSpeak. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | We have a [[JustForFun/GrammarNazi Just for Fun page for Grammar Nazis]] now. |
| 27 | |
| 28 | No relation to ThoseWackyNazis -- well, except for [[http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/06/03/nazi_grammar_tweet_american_nazi_party_recommends_careful_spelling_and_punctuation.html certain ironic cases]]-- or [[RacistGrandma grandma]] [[NaziGrandpa Nazis]], or even ANaziByAnyOtherName. If GodwinsLaw [[DudeNotFunny becomes an issue]], "Grammar Police" is another accepted term, and since Spain [[UsefulNotes/TheFrancoRegime didn't know about the Nazis]], our Spanish-language page on this trope is called ''Es/TalibanOrtografico'', or "Grammar Taliban". |
| 29 | |
| 30 | Compare GrammarCorrectionGag. See ArtisticLicenseLinguistics, TheBigListOfBooboosAndBlunders, RougeAnglesOfSatin, WantonCrueltyToTheCommonComma, and UsefulNotes/{{Tenses}} for errors that are likely to invoke Grammar Nazis' wrath. If you want to make a Grammar Nazi upset, add an AcquiredErrorAtThePrinter to something they wrote. If there's an error ''everyone'' can see, it may be a TyopOnTheCover. The Grammar Nazi is the sworn enemy of the {{Malaproper}}. May overlap with CausticCritic and AccentuateTheNegative. Usually a form of SingleIssueWonk. |
| 31 | |
| 32 | ''Note:'' If you feel the urge to correct grammar on [[Website/TVTropes This Very Wiki]], the preferred approach is Administrivia/RepairDontRespond. After all, [[LetsSeeYouDoBetter we all make mistakes sometimes]], and nobody wants to look like an asshat. |
| 33 | |
| 34 | ---- |
| 35 | !!Examples: |
| 36 | |
| 37 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 38 | |
| 39 | [[folder:Advertising]] |
| 40 | %%* Creator/OrsonWelles became one when he did a voiceover commercial for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frozen_Peas frozen peas]]. (Administrivia/WeblinksAreNotExamples) |
| 41 | * "Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should," was attacked by Grammar Nazis for using "like" instead of "as". A subsequent campaign asked, "What do you want, good grammar or good taste?" This is also what helped the company become a best-seller -- people were talking about their horrible grammar, and thus their brand name stood out more. Kind of accidental ViralMarketing on their part.\ |
| 42 | Considering the content of the "good grammar or good taste" ads, some cultural analysts at the time felt that this was being used as anti-intellectual, pro-"just plain Joe" propaganda, especially after grade-school bullies started using the line as they beat their victims. Creator/HarlanEllison wrote about this in one of his ''Glass Teat'' essays. |
| 43 | [[/folder]] |
| 44 | |
| 45 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 46 | [[HairTriggerTemper Ghiaccio]] from ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind'' has an extreme hatred for non-Italian pronunciations of Italian words, to the point that he goes on a long-winded rant about the pronunciation of Venezia as "Venice" ''while in the middle of a fight''. |
| 47 | [[/folder]] |
| 48 | |
| 49 | [[folder:Comedy]] |
| 50 | * The comedian Otto Waalkes (from East Frisia, Germany) parodied this, pretending to criticize the use of the term "Die Fahrerflucht" (the hit-and-run driving), interpreting it as "Die [singular feminine or general plural article] Fahrer [{male} driver singular or plural form] Flucht [{he/she/it} curses]". Either use the masculine article or the verb in plural form, and WomenDrivers who curse are uncouth anyway, so there is no third option! |
| 51 | [[/folder]] |
| 52 | |
| 53 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 54 | * ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'': The miniseries ''Emerald Dawn 2'' shows Sinestro correcting the syntax of people he's beating down back when he's [[Characters/GreenLanternHalJordan Hal Jordan]]'s Corps-appointed mentor. |
| 55 | * ''ComicBook/{{Lobo}}'': In one story, Lobo is captured by Grammar Nazis who force him into a competition to see if he'll be allowed to join them in their crusade to cleanse language from error (and exterminate malaprops). It ends when Lobo tries to get his grade school teacher out of the competition, only for her to reveal that he cut her legs and then preparing to kill him by shooting... and removing him from the gas trap that was keeping him at bay. No Grammar Nazis survive the encounter. |
| 56 | * ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'': Herr Starr destroys a subordinate's report with a handgun for "Improper use of inverted commas!" (The subordinate had used quotation marks, instead of a bold or italic face, for emphasis.) |
| 57 | * ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': Minor villain Spellcheck is such a stickler for grammar, syntax, and usage that he, inspired by the letter-and-punctuation-themed Typeface, puts on a costume and beats people up over it. He goes after Spider-Man because the hyphen (-) between his SuperHero name is ''unnecessary''. |
| 58 | * ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'': |
| 59 | ** Ultra Magnus at one point throws someone in the brig for punctuation errors on a warning sign. He even uses his custom font when writing, which has more right angles than normal font. Rodimus even uses it against him; whenever Magnus objects to something he wants to do, Rodimus phrases it in bad grammar, so Magnus gets sidetracked correcting him rather than complaining about whatever reckless idea Rodimus just had. [[spoiler:Unlike a lot of Magnus's issues, this one doesn't seem to be tied to his early nervous breakdown; he keeps doing it into the later seasons.]] |
| 60 | --->'''Ultra Magnus:''' You can't have people throwing made-up words around willy-nilly. There are impressionable 'bots on board.\ |
| 61 | '''Brainstorm:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Magnus is right. Making up words leads to]] [[PerfectlyCromulentWord crimanarchy and pandebordination.]]\ |
| 62 | '''Magnus:''' Brainstorm, one more and you're on remand! |
| 63 | ** To a lesser extent, Thunderclash. At one point, Thunders is forced to modulate his life signs to send a coded message via his medical equipment. [[SkewedPriorities He makes sure that said coded message is correctly punctuated, even though this notably shortens his life]]. |
| 64 | * ''ComicBook/YTheLastMan'': Yorick is an English major and as such often points out grammatical mistakes, though these mistakes, including splitting infinitives and ending sentences in prepositions, often aren't actually grammar rules. For example, he tells a journalist that she splits more infinitives than Creator/GeneRoddenberry. |
| 65 | [[/folder]] |
| 66 | |
| 67 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 68 | * At one point, someone asks Lemont of ''ComicStrip/{{Candorville}}'' who died and made him the grammar police. He responds that he's actually being the idiom police. |
| 69 | * Andy Fox of the comic strip ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' has been known to rant at her children for using improper grammar. In one strip, she explains to her older son that she couldn't help correcting him in the previous strip because, as an English major, she believes that proper grammar is important. |
| 70 | %%* Joe's mother from ''ComicStrip/JumpStart'', much to everyone's annoyance (she is a retired English teacher after all). |
| 71 | * The [[http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/StrunkAndPtah 6 October 2011]] ''ComicStrip/NonSequitur'' features a nonsensical version of this trope in ancient Egypt, where a man corrects another man carving hieroglphics that you never end a sentence with a bird symbol. |
| 72 | %%* ''ComicStrip/ThePerryBibleFellowship'' has, as always, its own twisted take on the concept. (Administrivia/ZeroContextExample) |
| 73 | %%* Rose Gumbo from ''ComicStrip/RoseIsRose'' is shown to be this in a few strips. |
| 74 | [[/folder]] |
| 75 | |
| 76 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 77 | * ''Fanfic/GuysBeingDudes'': Arlo regularly corrects other people's grammar, which Spark finds endearing. His colleagues just find it annoying. |
| 78 | * The humorous short ''Franchise/GIJoe'' fic ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6414487/1/Sergeant_major_SchoolMarm Sergeant major School'Marm]]'' features a Grammar Ranger -- the premise is that Beach Head is getting tired of deciphering poorly written reports, and drags several of his soldiers in for a refresher course. |
| 79 | %%* In the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7916717/5/Son-of-a-Snake Son of the Snake]]'', Harry calls Severus one and [[spoiler:Lily]] adds her take. (Administrivia/ZeroContextExample; why does he call him this?) |
| 80 | * In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'''s ''Fanfic/WalkingInCircles'', when the group finally gets to Skyhold and she has become the Inquisitor, Evelyn tries to persuade Solas to forget about "preserving her reputation" and just move in with her by talking in Elvish, which she learned from hearing him speaking it for two years. He's moved by it and agrees, but still tries pointing out that she used the wrong verb. |
| 81 | * ''Fanfic/WhereTalentGoesToDie'' has Reiko Mitamura, the [[{{Franchise/Danganronpa}} Ultimate Proofreader]]. Fitting with her talent, and her personality as ThePerfectionist, she frequently corrects her classmates when they make grammatical errors. |
| 82 | [[/folder]] |
| 83 | |
| 84 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 85 | * In ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHeadDoAmerica'', the detective pursuing the eponymous pair chastises his underling for ending a sentence in a preposition. The underling later struggles to reform his sentences to avoid this (apocryphal) rule. |
| 86 | [[/folder]] |
| 87 | |
| 88 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 89 | %%* Aro in the film version of ''[[Film/{{Twilight}} Breaking Dawn]]''. |
| 90 | * ''Film/DaveMadeAMaze'': Harry ''constantly'' corrects people's grammar, even when it's at a very inappropriate time. |
| 91 | -->'''Dave:''' And tertiary, ''tertiary'', I might be responsible for the people that died today, and if I am... I'm sorry.\ |
| 92 | '''Harry:''' Tertiarily.\ |
| 93 | ''[Dave gets up and leaves the room]'' |
| 94 | * A non-comedic example in ''Film/FindingForrester'', where Jamal shows up an English professor in front of the class by correcting his usage of "farther" (a measure of distance) to "further" (a wider usage). The professor gets him back for this. |
| 95 | * ''Film/AGoodWomanIsHardToFind'': After Sarah says Leo Miller must "stay away from me and my children" he corrects this to "my children and I". |
| 96 | * Nelson from ''Film/IfYouCouldSayItInWords'' is like this. He attributes it to his grandfather, who was a very strict English teacher. He and his family got so used to correcting each other that he still automatically corrects other people. |
| 97 | * ''Film/KissingJessicaStein'': Jessica finds it a deal-breaker with one date that the guy lacked proper diction. |
| 98 | * In ''Film/LoadedWeapon1'' we have this exchange: |
| 99 | -->'''Becker:''' Whoa, whoa, whoa. I don't know nothin', I didn't see nothin', I didn't say nothin'.\ |
| 100 | '''Luger:''' "Nothing". The word is "nothing", not "nothin'". There's an "-ing" on the end of it, "nothing".\ |
| 101 | '''Becker:''' OK, nothinG. Nothin G. NOTHIIIIIIIIING. 'K, you happy?\ |
| 102 | '''Luger:''' That's better. But that's not what you told York.\ |
| 103 | '''Becker:''' I don't know no York, and where's my food?\ |
| 104 | '''Luger:''' We ate it. And please, no double negatives.\ |
| 105 | '''Becker:''' Sorry. I don't know ''any'' York. |
| 106 | * ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'': A centurion (played by former Latin teacher Creator/JohnCleese), catching Brian in the act of writing anti-Roman graffiti, [[DoWrongRight makes him correct his Latin grammar at sword point]]. Then he makes Brian write it out 100 times -- ''all over the walls of the palace, [[FreudianThreat after threatening to cut his balls off]]''! |
| 107 | -->'''Centurion:''' People called "Romanes", they go the house? |
| 108 | * Lionel from ''Film/MurderByDeath'', who continuously corrects Sidney Wang's AsianSpeekeeEngrish throughout the film. |
| 109 | -->'''Lionel:''' Pronounce your goddamn pronouns! |
| 110 | * Henry Higgins in ''Film/MyFairLady'' is introduced with a song about how atrocious it is that everyone English doesn't speak the Queen's English. For most of the movie, though, he just acts like a more general JerkAss; sure, he's teaching Elisabeth to speak properly, but that's his job and has a point at that stage... so Higgins is also troping hard on StrawmanHasAPoint. |
| 111 | * Scott appears to be one in ''Film/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld'', though it only comes up once. |
| 112 | -->'''Todd Ingram:''' We have unfinished business, I and he.\ |
| 113 | '''Scott:''' He and me.\ |
| 114 | '''Todd:''' Don't you talk to me about grammar! |
| 115 | :: What's more, Scott is ''wrong''. As a matter of style, the first-person pronoun should come last, but Scott gets the case wrong. "He and I" would be most correct. |
| 116 | * The Italian movie ''Se devo essere sincera'' casts Luciana Littizzetto as a Literature teacher who simply cannot tolerate grammatical errors, especially when it comes to conjugation. And since Italian verbs can be so complicated, she has various occasions to correct people, be they relatives, policemen, or potential murderers. |
| 117 | * In ''Film/SheWoreAYellowRibbon'', [[FightingIrish Sergeant Quincannon]] is drilling his troops and orders them to "Fix them bandoliers!" or something to that effect. Immediately someone yells out from the ranks: "Fix them grammar!" |
| 118 | * Creator/VanKootenEnDeBie: Prof. Kipping, who tries to defend several language mistakes and rules. |
| 119 | * In ''Film/WithHonors'' Creator/JoePesci's character, Harvard Bum Simon, has the following exchange with a snooty Harvard professor. |
| 120 | -->'''Simon:''' Which door do I leave from?\ |
| 121 | '''Professor:''' At Harvard, we don't end our sentences with prepositions.\ |
| 122 | '''Simon:''' Okay. Which door do I leave from, asshole? |
| 123 | [[/folder]] |
| 124 | |
| 125 | [[folder:Jokes]] |
| 126 | * [[KnockKnockJoke Knock Knock]]!\ |
| 127 | Who's there?\ |
| 128 | To.\ |
| 129 | To who?\ |
| 130 | To ''whom''. |
| 131 | * Captain UsefulNotes/{{Blackbeard}} was known to be a real stickler for grammar. One day a crew member scurried up to him and said, "Captain, the cannons be ready!" The captain replied, "[[TalkLikeAPirate Arrrrrrre]]!" |
| 132 | * An uneducated woman visits Harvard, and she approaches a professor working there. She says to him, "'Scuse me, couldja tell me where the 'libary' is at?" The professor looks up from his book and says to her, "Young lady, it is improper to [[PrepositionsAreNotToEndSentencesWith end a sentence with a preposition]]." So the woman says, "Okay. Couldja tell me where the libary is at, asshole?" |
| 133 | * '''{{Alice|AndBob}}:''' Where are you from?\ |
| 134 | '''Carol:''' I am from a place where [[PrepositionsAreNotToEndSentencesWith we don't end sentences with prepositions]].\ |
| 135 | '''Alice:''' All right, then: Where are you from, [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch bitch]]? |
| 136 | [[/folder]] |
| 137 | |
| 138 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 139 | * ''Literature/TheBabySittersClub'': |
| 140 | ** Janine Kishi frequently corrects the club members' grammar. Most notably in the first book, she spends a serious amount of time puzzling over whether the girls are "The Baby-Sitters Club", a club of several or more babysitters, or "The Baby-Sitters' Club", a club ''belonging'' to several or more babysitters. (Either is technically correct.) |
| 141 | ** Karen gets a special softball uniform that says "Kristy's Crushers", not "Kristy's Krushers", because she's upset by the idea of wearing a misspelled word. |
| 142 | * In the ''Literature/{{Confessions|SaintAugustine}}'', teachers in Roman Africa would beat their students for errors in speech, but reward them for good grammar even if they praised murder or adultery in the process. [[Creator/AugustineOfHippo St. Augustine]] himself internalized this rhetorical mentality and it ruined his life for years to come. |
| 143 | * ''Literature/DearMrHenshaw'': Creator/BeverlyCleary's ''Strider'' has Leigh Botts dealing with an English teacher, Ms. Habis-Jones (whom Leigh privately calls "Old Wounded-Hair"), who's one of these. Perhaps the most notable example is when he writes a paragraph featuring two people who don't speak with perfect grammar, and she tells him to change it so they ''are'' speaking the way she wants. When he protests that doing so would make it incorrect (because people ''don't speak perfectly in real life''), she scolds him and tells him that he needs to fix his attitude. Luckily, his next English teacher is far nicer. |
| 144 | * In the first ''Literature/{{Deathlands}}'' novel, Krysty Wroth points out to Ryan Cawdor that he's used a double negative. Later when Ryan goes to have a word with the local baron after finding out his DragonInChief has nerve-gassed all Ryan's associates (including Krysty, [[NotQuiteDead he thinks]]) it becomes an IronicEcho. |
| 145 | -->Teague wheezed, "I ain't done nothin', Ryan."\ |
| 146 | "That," Ryan said icily, "as someone said to me not too long ago...someone who's now ''dead!"'' And he spat the word at Teague, who waddled back two steps at the violence of the sound, "is a double fucking negative."\ |
| 147 | "I...I dunno watcha mean, Ryan!" Teague squeaked.\ |
| 148 | "It means, fat man, you ''have'' done ''something!"'' |
| 149 | * In a parody book called ''[[Literature/TheMillenniumTrilogy The Dragon with the Girl Tattoo]]'', Kaal is described as "not the biggest, bravest or fieriest dragon in Scandragonia, but he was certainly the most ''pedantic''." Hence, when Helltrik Vagner talks about "farming of goats, sheeps, and pigs", Kaal has to correct him on it. This leads to three and a half pages of the two interrupting Vagner's story to revive the argument. |
| 150 | * Elliott from ''Literature/ElliottAndWin'' is always correcting Win's grammar. When Win says, "I don't want no more", Elliott serves him a large helping of chicken salad because he used a double negative. |
| 151 | * Lassic Wert in ''Literature/FelsicCurrent'' is one mainly through the constant presence of his partner Geal Tromautein, who could be described as a verbal dyslexic. Were Lassic not constantly busy correcting his friend's mispronunciations (like that one), he might not have developed such a reflex for linguistic accuracy. |
| 152 | * ''Literature/TheFoundationTrilogy'': In Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/TheMule", Mayor Indbur III corrects the grammar before he signs anything. It's evidence of his bookkeeper personality that he must correct the improper usage of commas before he places a document in his Out Tray. |
| 153 | * PlayedForDrama in ''Literature/TheGiver''. Proper and precise word use is important in [[CrapsaccharineWorld The Community]]. Jonas was punished for hyperbole when he claimed he was starving. He was also asked to use less vague language when he asked his parents if they "loved" him. Young children are not given an exemption: Jonas's friend Asher was beaten for saying "smack" instead of "snack" (to clarify, he asked for a "smack" and was given one), and for a time refused to speak at all. He was also corrected for saying "distraught" instead of "distracted", because HappinessIsMandatory in the Community, even though he actually ''was'' distraught. |
| 154 | * In ''Literature/TheHalfLifeOfPlanets'', Liana's dad is always correcting people's grammar. He likes it so much that he wrote a successful grammar check program. |
| 155 | * Avril Incandenza of Creator/DavidFosterWallace's ''Literature/InfiniteJest'' made her ''career'' out of this, leading a wave of linguistic prescription including ''riots'' over the damned thing, incorporating rigorous education in English grammar in the [[ElaborateUniversityHigh Enfield Tennis Academy]] curriculum (which in fairness is based on the medieval ''trivium'' and ''quadrivium'', which ''did'' include [Latin] grammar), and leading a group called the Militant Grammarians of Massachusetts, whose primary activity seems to be hassling supermarkets over "10 items or less" signs on express lanes ("It should be 10 items or ''fewer''!").\ |
| 156 | This is likely an [[WriteWhoYouKnow exaggeration of his mother]], a community-college English professor who raised her children with songs about grammar mistakes and pretending to go into a coughing fit whenever one of them used a solecism (which Wallace in retrospect admitted was rather chilling). On the other hand, she never got ''nearly'' as grammar-crazy (much less anything else-crazy) as [[StepfordSmiler Avril Incandenza]]... |
| 157 | * ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': The Royal Ordercraft Security and Compliance Team insist upon correct, standardized, grammar from those they interact with. Their leader once scolded Eric for saying "can I go" instead of "may I go". |
| 158 | * Most members on the noble side of mysterious organization V.F.D. are revealed to be this, in ''Literature/LemonySnicketTheUnauthorizedAutobiography''. An editor's note stated that "Some of the photographs in this book were taken by Julie Blattberg", which was promptly followed by a note from Mr. Snicket reading: |
| 159 | -->''To My Kind Editor,\ |
| 160 | Please rewrite another editor's note to read as follows:\ |
| 161 | Some of the photographs in this book were not taken by Julie Blattberg.\ |
| 162 | -- LS'' |
| 163 | %%* Minor mention in ''Literature/TheNameOfTheRose'': |
| 164 | %%-->''But those were times when, to forget an evil world, grammarians took pleasure in abstruse questions. I was told that in that period, for fifteen days and fifteen nights, the rhetoricians Gabundus and Terentius argued on the vocative of "ego", and in the end, they attacked each other, with weapons.'' |
| 165 | * In ''Literature/NorthangerAbbey'', Catherine offhandedly describes a book as "nice". Her crush Henry teasingly asks if she means that it has neat bindings and then goes on a small diatribe about how a word that used to mean precise, proper, delicate, or refined, is now being all rolled up into the one meaning of "pleasant". This gets him a lot of eye-rolling from his sister, who calls him "more nice than wise" and tells Catherine to use whatever word she likes to praise favorite books. (The book was written in 1803, proving that certain English speakers have always been upset about the fluidity of their own language.) |
| 166 | * Lucy Fitzmartin from ''Literature/APearlForMyMistress'', in more ways than one. She will correct your wrong use of dative case ''and'' she is an actual Nazi sympathizer. |
| 167 | * ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'': |
| 168 | ** Josephine Anwhistle is a perfect example of a typical Grammar Nazi, going so far as to point out that Sunny Baudelaire's [[BabyTalk utterances]] are nonsense even if she's too young to be expected to speak coherently. Played with somewhat in that she uses bad grammar to relay a secret message to the Baudelaires. Unfortunately, she corrects the AxCrazy villain's grammar as well... |
| 169 | ** Count Olaf in his disguise as Captain Sham pretends to be one of these too, to gain Josephine's trust. HypocriticalHumor abounds when he says "There ain't nothin' better than good grammar!" |
| 170 | * Creator/CarlHiaasen's ''Literature/StarIsland'': The hired bodyguard is one and is so aggravated by his charge's ValleyGirl speech patterns that he corrects her with electroshock. |
| 171 | * Rat from ''Literature/TheWindInTheWillows'' debates with Badger about the phrase "We'll learn them" as opposed to "We'll ''teach'' them", with Rat being in favor of "teaching". His grousing is comically shunted aside to him muttering to himself for a paragraph or two. |
| 172 | * In ''Literature/AFeastForCrows'', Amerei Frey cries to Jaime to help avenge her father, who she claims was hung by outlaws. Her mother corrects her that the word for executing men by rope is "hanged". [[DeadpanSnarker "Your father was not a tapestry."]] |
| 173 | * Similar to the above, in ''Literature/{{Maskerade}}'' Salzella reports to Mr. Bucket that the recently-murdered Dr. Undershaft, whose body was found hanging from the curtain ropes, had been strangled before he was hung. Bucket absently corrects Salzella that it's "hanged" because it's dead meat that's hung. Salzella responds "Well in that case Dr. Undershaft was strangled. [[BlackComedy Then he was hung.]]" |
| 174 | [[/folder]] |
| 175 | |
| 176 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 177 | * Addressed in ''Series/AdamRuinsEverything'' (of course), where he schools a schoolteacher on those "sacred rules" she holds so dear. As he demonstrates, many famous British and American writers have been known to use what is now considered incorrect English. Even the usage of "literally" to mean "figuratively" goes back quite a long time. |
| 178 | * Sheldon Cooper of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' does this incorrectly as part of being an InsufferableGenius. |
| 179 | -->'''Penny:''' I don't care if UsefulNotes/RichardFeynman was a purple leprechaun who lived in my butt.\ |
| 180 | '''Sheldon:''' Penny meant if he were a purple leprechaun. Penny forgot to use a subjunctive. |
| 181 | :: : The subjunctive would be appropriate if Penny had said "wouldn't" rather than "can't". |
| 182 | * The title character of ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}'' falls into this occasionally, at one point critiquing the grammar of a murderer who wrote on the victim's face, and used "your" instead of "you're". |
| 183 | -->'''Castle:''' It's not like you're just leaving yourself a note, you know, to buy bread on the way home. You're writing on ''a person you just murdered''. You're trying to make a point, a point you care a great deal about, presumably, because you just killed someone to make it. So how do you not make sure you're using the proper language to make that point? |
| 184 | * Diane does this on ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' a lot with Sam: |
| 185 | -->'''Sam:''' She's trying to become the kind of waitress that you'd enjoy being waited on by.\ |
| 186 | '''Diane:''' ''[whispering]'' You just ended that sentence with two prepositions...\ |
| 187 | '''Sam:''' Don't you have customers to deal with?\ |
| 188 | '''Diane:''' That ended with a preposition, too...\ |
| 189 | '''Sam:''' Don't you have customers to deal with, mullet head? |
| 190 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': |
| 191 | ** The Doctor, on rare occasions: |
| 192 | *** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E5RevengeOfTheCybermen Revenge of the Cybermen]]", the Doctor moans about the bad English when the Cybermen use the word "fragmentise". |
| 193 | *** [[TheNthDoctor The Tenth]], in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E4TheSontaranStratagem The Sontaran Stratagem]]"/"[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E5ThePoisonSky The Poison Sky]]", corrects Luke Rattigan on his misuse of a "conditional clause", mainly to irritate the InsufferableGenius who was largely responsible for the catastrophe. Rattigan later gets back at him, as he snottily points out that "ATMOS system" is incorrect, since the acronym stands for "Atmospheric Emissions System", meaning that he's actually saying "[[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Atmospheric Emissions System system]]". |
| 194 | *** Ten also delivers us this gem from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime The End of Time]]". |
| 195 | ---->'''Wilf Mott:''' God bless the cactuses!\ |
| 196 | '''The Doctor:''' That's cact'''i'''.\ |
| 197 | '''Vinvocci:''' ''[[FantasticRacism That's racist!]]'' |
| 198 | ** The Master does this in the Eighth Doctor [[Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie movie]]. |
| 199 | --->'''Grace:''' Did you know Madame Curie as well?\ |
| 200 | '''Doctor:''' Intimately.\ |
| 201 | '''Grace:''' Did she kiss as good as me?\ |
| 202 | '''The Master:''' As ''well'' as you. |
| 203 | * Niles Crane, from ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', is known for this. Just two examples: |
| 204 | ** Martin is writing a letter to an old army friend. |
| 205 | --->'''Niles:''' ''[reading it over Martin's shoulder]'' You know, that's the improper use of a hyphen.\ |
| 206 | '''Martin:''' Somehow I don't think Maurie Dingman will mind.\ |
| 207 | '''Niles:''' Then I'm sure he won't notice that missing comma and that run-on sentence. Although this is a particularly glaring error. It's best not to end a sentence with a preposition.\ |
| 208 | ''[Martin puts the letter to one side, grabs a second bit of paper and writes something on it, before giving it to Niles.]''\ |
| 209 | '''Niles:''' ...not to be technical, but "off" is a preposition too. |
| 210 | ** Niles isn't even present in this scene: |
| 211 | --->'''Martin:''' Boy, I can't stand these yuppie joints. Some bozo went through the men's room, correcting all the grammar in the graffiti with a red pen.\ |
| 212 | '''Frasier:''' Yes, I noticed.\ |
| 213 | '''Martin:''' I mean, who'd have that much time on his hands?\ |
| 214 | '''Frasier:''' Unbelievable.\ |
| 215 | '''Martin:''' ...it was Niles, wasn't it?\ |
| 216 | '''Frasier:''' I'll talk to him again. |
| 217 | * Ross from ''Series/{{Friends}}'' is often this kind of Nazi, or at least his irritated friends have the opinion that he is. He has a habit of correcting people when they misuse "who" for "whom" and can occasionally become quite irate when confronted with bad grammar (or he'll get angry about something else but still feel compelled to nitpick). |
| 218 | -->'''Ross:''' ''[after reading a very long letter in which this extremely basic error is made numerous times]'' Oh oh oh, and by the way, Y-O-U-apostrophe-R-E means "you are". ''Y-O-U-R means "your"!'' |
| 219 | :: : Joey, of all people, turns this on a ranting Ross, who, told to complain about something, asks "To who?" Joey corrects this to "To whom?", and while the gang stares at him in astonishment, smugly nods. |
| 220 | * ''Series/GameOfThrones'': |
| 221 | ** There is this exchange between King Stannis Baratheon, PrinciplesZealot extraordinaire, and his former smuggler advisor Davos Seaworth: |
| 222 | --->'''Stannis:''' Do your knucklebones bring you luck?\ |
| 223 | '''Davos:''' Well, life's been good to me since you hacked them off, Your Grace. And it's four less fingernails to clean.\ |
| 224 | '''Stannis:''' Fewer.\ |
| 225 | '''Davos:''' Pardon?\ |
| 226 | '''Stannis:''' Four ''fewer'' fingernails to clean. |
| 227 | :: : This becomes a BrickJoke in Season 5 when a Night's Watch member makes the same error and he corrects him, and again when Davos corrects Jon Snow in Season 7. |
| 228 | ** Tyrion corrects Cersei's word use several times. "Plots" and "schemes" are the same thing! |
| 229 | ** Tywin deduces that Arya is a highborn girl when she calls him "my lord" instead of "m'lord." She quickly covers by claiming that her mother was a handmaiden who taught her to speak "proper... properly!" |
| 230 | * This is part of Alan Statham's extremely pedantic and anal personality from ''Series/GreenWing''. In one episode he's joining a local political party and somebody comes along to see how he'd fare, so the interviewer pretends to be a mother who's complaining to Statham about the local clubs for her children. Alan gets distracted and begins pointing out the grammatical errors in "her" sentences. |
| 231 | * From ''Hannity & Colmes'': |
| 232 | -->'''Sean Hannity:''' What I said was that your opinion was thoughtless, what you wrote was crude, and mean, and hateful.\ |
| 233 | '''Creator/ChristopherHitchens:''' And then you took up all the time for my answer with your long, rather unlettered questioning. |
| 234 | * Happens in ''Series/TheITCrowd'' when Roy is singing "[[Music/PinkFloyd Another Brick in the Wall]]". |
| 235 | -->'''Roy:''' We don't need no education.\ |
| 236 | '''Moss:''' Yes, you do. You just used a double negative. |
| 237 | * In one episode of ''Series/JonathanCreek'', part of the solution relies on the fact that the name of the house is spelled "GHOSTS FORGE", with no apostrophe in "GHOSTS". |
| 238 | * Carol on ''Series/TheLastManOnEarth'' is one of these, having a near-fanatic belief that sentences are not supposed to be ended with prepositions. It drives fellow apocalypse survivor Phil (even more) crazy. |
| 239 | * After losing his job as a police consultant, ''Series/{{Monk}}'' applies for work to a magazine. While waiting, he picks up one of their past issues and proofreads it in his spare time. Then he shows it to his interviewer. He gets the job, although one of his corrections is no longer valid. The word "decimate" may have started as "reduce by one-tenth", but its far wider usage of "destroy completely" has officially been entered into dictionaries as the second meaning. |
| 240 | * Kent of ''Series/OtherSpace'' has been raised in a cold academic environment free from social slang. He is frustrated by his friends' inability to speak correctly. |
| 241 | * ''Series/OurMissBrooks'': Miss Brooks herself is a mild example; as an English teacher she's often heard correcting Walter Denton or Stretch Snodgrass' grammar. Here, it's [[JustifiedTrope justified]]. |
| 242 | * The title character of ''Series/{{Sherlock}}''. In the BatmanColdOpen of "[[Recap/SherlockS01E03TheGreatGame The Great Game]]", a prospective client describes the events leading to his wife's murder but is repeatedly interrupted by Holmes to correct his grammar (see the quotes page for complete exchange). |
| 243 | -->'''Mr. Bewick:''' Without you... I'll get hung for this!\ |
| 244 | '''Sherlock:''' [[FalseReassurance No, no, Mr. Bewick, not at all.]]\ |
| 245 | ''[Mr. Bewick looks relieved]''\ |
| 246 | '''Sherlock:''' ''Hanged'', yes. |
| 247 | :: : He did it to Molly on his website, too. "'It's' not 'its.'" |
| 248 | * In ''Series/StargateSG1'', Jack O'Neill does a surprising amount of this. Of course, he's only doing it to annoy people. |
| 249 | -->'''Jaffa:''' No matter what you have endured, you have never experienced the likes of what Anubis is capable of.\ |
| 250 | '''O'Neill:''' ''[gasping]'' You ended that sentence with a preposition! ''Bastard!'' |
| 251 | * One skit from ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'' involves Mitchell's character shooting employees who spell or pronounce words wrong (he mentions shooting his wife for, ironically, getting "mispronunciation" wrong). He goes even further: he shot someone for pronouncing H "Haitch" instead of "Aitch". When ''he'' makes a mistake, he has a [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone "What have I done?"]] moment and shoots himself. [[spoiler:He manages a LastBreathBullet when someone says "whoever" instead of "whomever".]] |
| 252 | * ''Series/{{Twenties}}'': Ida B's response to Hattie sending a sexy text? Correct her spelling. |
| 253 | * ''Series/TheUndeclaredWar'': John Yeabsley uses his lunchtime partly to correct other people's spellings. Then once Saara first speaks to him, he quickly corrects her grammar use too. [[spoiler:It later tips Saara off that his interview on Russian TV is fake, since he uses an ungrammatical phrase which he corrected her over.]] |
| 254 | * ''Series/TheWire'': |
| 255 | ** Judge Phelan admonishes Jimmy [=McNulty=] for a report plagued with grammatical mistakes. |
| 256 | ** In "[[Recap/TheWireS01E01TheTarget The Target]]", Rawls insists that [=McNulty's=] punishment report be written in a certain format with no spelling mistakes. And be sure to use those little dots. The deputy likes dots. When Jimmy relates his task to his Sergeant, Jay Landsman doesn't give a shit about it. |
| 257 | --->'''Landsman:''' Fuck you and your dots. |
| 258 | ** Several cops laugh about an incident report stating that a perp fell "prostate" instead of "prostrate". |
| 259 | ** After reading the Major Crimes Unit detail's DoorStopper of a report requesting phone surveillance on the Barksdale gang, Rhonda Pearlman comments, "You guys can't spell for shit." |
| 260 | ** Being a grammar watchdog is part of the job description of Gus Haynes, the City editor for ''The Baltimore Sun''. In one of his first scenes, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeYwa-DCiWk Gus schools Alma Gutierrez]], a rookie journo, on the usage of "to evacuate". Buildings are evacuated, not people unless you mean the person is getting an enema. Series creator David Simon was chastised similarly [[http://www.vulture.com/2008/01/the_wire_copyediting_scandal_d.html back in the day, but Alma is not entirely incorrect]]. This gets a BrickJoke in "[[Recap/TheWireS05E08Clarifications Clarifications]]" when [=McNulty=] and Christeson are looking at a body: |
| 261 | --->'''Christeson:''' This fucking guy stinks.\ |
| 262 | '''Jimmy [=McNulty=]:''' Looks like he evacuated.\ |
| 263 | '''Christeson:''' What? He left and he came back?\ |
| 264 | '''Jimmy [=McNulty=]:''' No, he shit himself. |
| 265 | [[/folder]] |
| 266 | |
| 267 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 268 | * On a mid-'90s WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunks country collaboration album, Simon is paired with Music/AaronTippin to sing Tippin's "There Ain't Nothin' Wrong with the Radio". When Simon starts singing, he corrects the grammar "flaws" on the fly, but eventually, Aaron gets him to lighten up on the Grammar Nazism. |
| 269 | * In ''Fairy Tales'' by Eric Lane Barnes, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdLayHnPn9o "The Letter Song"]] is about a jilted man reading a letter about his boyfriend leaving him for another man. But that doesn't bother him, what ''is'' driving him up the wall is the terrible grammar used. |
| 270 | * Music/FatherJohnMisty's AntiLoveSong "The Night Josh Tillman Came to Our Apartment": |
| 271 | -->''She says, like, literally, music is the air she breathes\ |
| 272 | And the [[{{Malaproper}} malaprops]] make me wanna fucking scream\ |
| 273 | I wonder if she even knows what that word means\ |
| 274 | Well, it's literally not that'' |
| 275 | %%* "Tongue-Clucking Grammarian" by Music/MCFrontalot. |
| 276 | * There is a story that Neil Tennant of Music/PetShopBoys used to return fan mail with all the grammar and spelling errors meticulously corrected. As he used to edit magazines for a living, this kind of makes sense... |
| 277 | * Music/WeirdAlYankovic: |
| 278 | ** His song "Close but No Cigar" (a style parody of Music/{{Cake}}) describes the narrator dumping otherwise perfect girls because of minor flaws in their personality or appearance. One of the said girls consistently uses "infer" when she should be using "imply", prompting the narrator to wonder why some people put up with that. |
| 279 | ** "Word Crimes", a parody of "Blurred Lines" by Creator/RobinThicke, is entirely about this phenomenon, with the character listing various common grammar errors that irk him. He takes this to extremes when he aggressively belittles and [[DisproportionateRetribution threatens physical violence]] to people who do not use proper grammar. Also, the final lyric in the song [[HypocriticalHumor intentionally contains a split infinitive]] [[note]] Amusingly, Al considers himself a "grammar mild conservative", and a lot of the grammar errors in the song genuinely annoy him [[/note]]. |
| 280 | [[/folder]] |
| 281 | |
| 282 | [[folder:Newspapers]] |
| 283 | * One column in ''The Times'' by Philip Howard was a ''Literature/TheCanterburyTales'' pastiche, describing a bunch of celebrities who complain about technical faults with English (split infinitives, misplaced apostrophes...) while their own more fundamental abuses of the language go unchecked (one is a spin doctor who twists the truth, another is a book pundit who never reads or writes but uses book events to cadge free drinks, and so on). |
| 284 | * The late Keith Waterhouse's column in the ''[[UsefulNotes/BritishNewspapers Daily Mail]]'' frequently mentioned the work of the (fictitious) ''Association for the Abolition of the Abberant Apostrophe''. Readers were warned of the dangers of misplaced apostrophes, which were said to be both infectious and environmentally damaging. For example, the "sharp end" of an apostrophe could puncture the ozone layer. |
| 285 | * Another humorous column started from an event in a recent by-election, when a candidate had stood for the "Literal Democrats", thus causing confusion with the (genuine) Li'''b'''eral Democrats. The columnist ran with the idea that a party with that name would be composed of pedants who went round correcting posters and cutting mistakes out of newspaper articles while people were reading them. |
| 286 | [[/folder]] |
| 287 | |
| 288 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 289 | * Ed Reardon, writer and misanthrope, the main character of ''Radio/EdReardonsWeek''. Malformed plurals or possessives have been known to send him into histrionics. The first life lesson he gives his eight-week-old grandson is: "Now, to the children's section. There's an apostrophe between the N and the S. Remember that and you won't go far wrong." |
| 290 | * Music/Negativland's Pastor Dick once held a fund-raiser in which he asked callers to confess up to three sins. Sure enough, a young man phoned in that he had ended a sentence with a preposition. (His other sins: taking advantage of a girl in the back seat of a movie theatre, and letting his subscription to ''Magazine/HeavyMetal'' run out.) |
| 291 | [[/folder]] |
| 292 | |
| 293 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 294 | * Happens in ''Theatre/SeventeenSeventySix'' when, of all people, UsefulNotes/JohnAdams objects the Declaration of Independence, claiming that UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson used the word "inalienable" when he should have used "unalienable". Jefferson refuses to change it, and Adams withdraws his objection, saying he'll speak to the printer later about it. Funny thing is? [[http://web.archive.org/web/20160208001500/http://www.ushistory.org/DECLARATION/unalienable.htm He did.]] |
| 295 | * The Brazilian play ''Notícias Populares'' (Popular News) has a sketch in which two grammatically challenged cops are trying to negotiate with a bank robber holding people hostage. The robber shoots a hostage every time the cops say something incorrectly before politely correcting them. |
| 296 | * Raoul and Monsieur Andre do this subtly in ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', in this exchange with Monsieur Firmin: |
| 297 | -->'''Raoul:''' Isn't this the letter you wrote?\ |
| 298 | '''Firmin:''' And what is it that we're meant to have wrote?\ |
| 299 | ''[Andre and Raoul give weird looks]''\ |
| 300 | '''Firmin:''' ...Written. |
| 301 | %%* Professor Higgins from ''Theatre/{{Pygmalion}}'' is a {{Deconstruction}} of this trope. Once the [[RagsToRiches impoverished flower girl, Eliza]], completes his ToughLove program, she leaves him. (Administrivia/ZeroContextExample; clarify what him being a Grammar Nazi has to do with the program and her leaving him) |
| 302 | [[/folder]] |
| 303 | |
| 304 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 305 | * Valvatorez in ''VideoGame/Disgaea4APromiseUnforgotten''. He storms the Information Bureau not because it would be a huge blow to [[TheGovernment the Corrupternment]] but because they spelled "Prinny" wrong in their newspaper. |
| 306 | * In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', Varric reveals that his editor is one of these. [[DisproportionateRetribution She once killed a man over a semi-colon.]][[note]]hard to know if this is an exaggeration or not; [[TheStoryteller Varric's]] known for [[UnreliableNarrator embellishing his stories]][[/note]] He never publishes anything without her help and approval. |
| 307 | * ''VideoGame/{{Kindergarten|2017}}'': |
| 308 | ** Ms. Applegate gives the typical "can/may" correction when the protagonist asks to use the bathroom. Justified since she's a teacher. |
| 309 | ** Inverted by the janitor, who will beat you half to death for ''daring'' to point out that he spelled something wrong. |
| 310 | * As a RunningGag, ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'''s LemonyNarrator corrects its grammar -- in particular, the alleged rule against ending sentences with prepositions results in some deliberately awkward phrasing. |
| 311 | * In ''VideoGame/LEGOMarvelSuperHeroes'', ComicBook/CaptainBritain shows this to a mild degree. He's quick to point out that in Britain, it's f-a-v-o-''u''-r, since he naturally uses British English. |
| 312 | * In ''VideoGame/MarvelAvengersAlliance'', Maria Ross interrupts one of [[ComicBook/NickFury Fury]]'s mission briefings to correct a who/whom error. Fury's response? "New S.H.I.E.L.D. executive order: grammar corrections will be met with gunfire." |
| 313 | * A rather infamous line in ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'' has Director Adison correct the PC's grammar from "who" to "whom", and then ''in the same conversation'' say "less" when she means "fewer". This could be taken as meaning that she isn't quite as smart as she lets on, depending on how generous you are to the writers. |
| 314 | * In ''[[VideoGame/{{Risen}} Risen 2: Dark Waters]]'', the gnome leader is this of all peo... err, individuals. When learning the human language he put so much effort into this that he got the rules better than pretty much all the humans (including the main hero) and is constantly correcting the conversation partner on the proper use of grammar (again, including the main character, which drives him nuts). It stands out especially hard since gnomes, in general, do not speak the human language at all and are not known for their intelligence or regard to any rules. |
| 315 | * In ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'', when rescuing Shaundi from her simulation, you end up in a rematch with [[VideoGame/SaintsRow2 DJ Veteran Child]], who after being "killed" like in his original appearance [[DoppelgangerAttack makes dozens of copies of himself to attack you]]. When the Boss remarks, "that's a lot of Veteran Children", Kinzie interrupts to correct the Boss that, since it's his name, the correct plural would be "Veteran ''Childs''". |
| 316 | * ''VideoGame/{{Wolfenstein}}'': |
| 317 | ** Used as a gag in ''VideoGame/WolfensteinTheOldBlood''. Blazkowicz finds a Nazi mook who insists on correcting his friend's poor German. A ''literal'' Grammar Nazi. |
| 318 | ** Also used as a gag in ''VideoGame/WolfensteinIITheNewColossus'': A German Nazi is sizing up two [[UsefulNotes/KuKluxKlan Klansmen]], and tests their ability to speak German. HilarityEnsues when the two Klansmen can't even say the German phrase of "thank you" right, and the Nazi quickly losing his patience: |
| 319 | --->'''Soldier:''' Have you taken your German lessons?\ |
| 320 | '''Jeb:''' Oh, yessir. Mm-hmm.\ |
| 321 | '''Soldier:''' Good. You -- how do you say "thank you" in German?\ |
| 322 | '''Wayne:''' Oh. O' course, sir. Lessee, it's, um...\ |
| 323 | '''Soldier:''' Yes?\ |
| 324 | '''Wayne:''' Dank... dank...\ |
| 325 | '''Soldier:''' ''Yes?!'' Out with it.\ |
| 326 | '''Wayne:''' Dank... dankey!\ |
| 327 | '''Soldier:''' ''[laughing]'' Mein Gott...\ |
| 328 | '''Jeb:''' ''[hopefully]'' Was that alright?\ |
| 329 | '''Soldier:''' No, that was terrible! You're butchering my beautiful language! It's "Danke Schön", verdamnt -- say it!\ |
| 330 | '''Wayne:''' Uh, Danke Shoon?\ |
| 331 | '''Soldier:''' Incorrect! ''Danke Schön!''\ |
| 332 | '''Wayne:''' ...Dankey... ''Shaun''? |
| 333 | [[/folder]] |
| 334 | |
| 335 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 336 | * ''WebAnimation/AnimatorVsAnimation'': In "Autocorrect", all of the main stick figures serve as this correcting Alan's letter to DJ; fixing the spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. However, this leads to a point where they start to rewrite Alan's letter, turning it into a formal letter, leading to Alan, in all-caps, telling them to stop and just let him type, prompting Yellow to add a period at the end of Alan's sentence. |
| 337 | * ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': Strong Bad will often correct people's grammar in the e-mails he receives. He can get rather creative with it: "Y-O-U-R. Y-O-U-apostrophe-R-E. They're as different as night and day! Don't you think that night and day are different? What's wrong with you?" |
| 338 | * ''WebAnimation/SuperShowdownBowl'': Spoofed with Hans Landa, who's holding a script of ''Film/InglouriousBasterds'' with a red strike over the first "u" and the "e" corrected to "a". Might even be a reference to the Website/CollegeHumor skit "Once Upon a Time in Nazi-Occupied France". |
| 339 | [[/folder]] |
| 340 | |
| 341 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 342 | * The [[http://www.angryflower.com/aposter.html mascot]] of Grammar Nazis everywhere is Webcomic/BobTheAngryFlower, whose "Quick Guide to the Apostrophe, You Idiots" explains how using an apostrophe for a contraction of "it is" or a possessive is correct, but using it to make plurals is not. |
| 343 | * Grammar is just one of the many things that makes Butch of ''Webcomic/ChoppingBlock'' completely flip out. For example, [[http://choppingblock.keenspot.com/d/20090505.html in one strip]], he murders a farmer with a rake over the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostrophe#Superfluous_apostrophes_.28.22greengrocers.27_apostrophes.22.29 Greengrocers' apostrophe]]. |
| 344 | * ''Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness'': |
| 345 | ** One strip has a character being dragged away by a Nazi: |
| 346 | --->"Our grammar was correct! Why me?"\ |
| 347 | "Because you're a Jew." |
| 348 | ** The [[http://www.explosm.net/comics/997/ grammar sheriff]], who shoots a fellow sheriff when he says, "That don't seem like no kinda sheriff to me." |
| 349 | ** [[http://www.explosm.net/comics/2712/ The grammatical-errors-allergic guy]], who starts [[BloodFromTheMouth coughing up blood]] when the person he's talking to uses "me and Steve" instead of "Steve and I" and [[MediumAwareness has homophonic grammar errors in his speech bubble]]. |
| 350 | * ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': |
| 351 | ** Mr. Raven is [[http://egscomics.com/?date=2008-04-18 presented]] as one, complaining that "Awakenings" isn't a word, and when Catalina replies that it sounds cool, he says that there is nothing cool about improper grammar. He's later [[http://egscomics.com/?date=2008-06-20 referenced]] as this in the commentary of a later strip, where the author notes that he would no doubt slap him upside the head if he added the caption "Can I has a hug?". His Hitler Forelock does not help his case at all. |
| 352 | ** Charlotte can also be one, though in [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=2173 one comic]] she changes her mind on the issue of "begging the question" after deciding that the common use is more useful. |
| 353 | * Demons in ''Webcomic/{{Hellp}}'' generally have horrible grammar and spelling, and Marcus is furious about it, even though he's probably the [[TheSlacker last person]] you'd expect to care. WordOfGod implied that demons might be doing it on purpose to tick off poor Grammar Nazis. |
| 354 | %%* Jane in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' is one of these. Her friends often tease her about it. (Administrivia/ZeroContextExample; give a specific example of her being one) |
| 355 | * The [[https://bobadventures.thecomicseries.com/comics/370 North American Grammar Squirrel]], who corrects the cast of ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'' at the expense of their fourth wall. |
| 356 | * In ''Webcomic/{{Insecticomics}}'', when dealing with a teenage girl who refuses to spell correctly, [[http://www.insecticons.com/insecticomics/v7/634.html the annoyed English tutor threatens to hit her with a chair]]. |
| 357 | --> [[LemonyNarrator "98% of all teenagers think that spelling isn't important. If you are part of the 2% that disagree, find an idiot in the 98% and hit them with a chair until they use their damn spellchecker."]] |
| 358 | * ''Webcomic/NerfNow'' [[https://www.nerfnow.com/comic/2907 #2907]] has two characters commenting on wanting to stop doing door gags before they get stale. [[HypocriticalHumor Then a Nazi kicks open the door]] and yells at them for using a comma splice instead of a period. |
| 359 | * In [[WebAnimation/TheOdd1sOut TheOdd1sOut's]] comic "Your Next", someone notices a grammar mistake in a death threat next to a murder that reads "YOUR NEXT" and proceeds to correct it with the blood of the murdered person. |
| 360 | * ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': |
| 361 | ** [[TheSpock Vaarsuvius]] frequently corrects grammatical errors done by other characters. In a ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'' strip, V breaks the protection spell that was making them invisible to a pair of [[OurWightsAreDifferent wights]] to admonish them for ending every sentence with a preposition. |
| 362 | ** Xykon, the EvilSorcerer lich, can be this. Mostly about [[PsmithPsyndrome how his name is spelled]], but not exclusively (although it should be noted that Xykon has killed people for less): |
| 363 | --->'''Tsukiko:''' We need a new Head Executioner, you know. [[BadBoss Xykon]] killed the last one [[DisproportionateRetribution for spelling "guillotine" wrong on his daily reports]]. |
| 364 | * In ''Webcomic/OurLittleAdventure'', for Joyelle (a LawfulEvil Devil) [[http://danielscreations.com/ola/comics/ep0324.html the use of contractions calls for abuse]]. |
| 365 | * ''Webcomic/OzyAndMillie'': As Millie puts it, she "just invaded Grammar Czechoslovakia and duped Grammar UsefulNotes/NevilleChamberlain, and now it's on to Grammar Poland and Grammar World Conquest!". Ozy proceeds by calling her an Analogy Nazi. |
| 366 | * [[http://www.queenofwands.net/d/20040628.html The Grammar Nazi]] from ''Webcomic/QueenOfWands'' advertises the Grammar Fork[[{{Tradesnark}} ™]], used for [[EyeScream gouging your own eyes out]] to spare yourself the sight of poor grammar and spelling on the internet. |
| 367 | * Sandra's grandma in ''Webcomic/SandraAndWoo'' [[http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2009/04/08/0049-graffiti/ gets in trouble]] when [[DoWrongRight correcting graffiti]]. |
| 368 | * ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'': |
| 369 | ** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-12-31 Strip 2011-12-31]]: How to make a grammar Nazi self-destruct? |
| 370 | --->"I'm about to send you a text message. If you text back, you explode."\ |
| 371 | "I don't understand. Why would I...?"\ |
| 372 | ''Text message: "Your going to die."''\ |
| 373 | '''BOOM''' |
| 374 | ** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2013-09-04 Strip 2013-09-04]]: A guy complains about the grammar of what turns out to be ''Literature/TheSunAlsoRises'' by Creator/ErnestHemingway. |
| 375 | * In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2007-11-30 literal ones beat up Slick for not using the subjunctive]]. |
| 376 | * ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' parodies this with Grammer[sic] Gorilla, who attempts to be one, but his [[YouNoTakeCandle own grammar is atrocious]]. A strip shortly afterward features reader mail by a self-proclaimed Grammar Nazi trying to correct the spelling of Grammer Gorilla's name (as if it's not intentional); a much later strip features a random {{mook|s}} with the same name as this reader being more horrified at a grammar mistake than the actual horrible thing that's going on. |
| 377 | * The Fairy of Good Grammar from ''Webcomic/SpellingTheVacuum'', whose grammar powers tie the universe together. |
| 378 | * ''Webcomic/{{XKCD}}'': [[http://xkcd.com/1771/ Luke starts critiquing Palpatine's grammar, and then he and Vader start arguing about it.]] |
| 379 | * In ''Webcomic/XWhy'', one character [[http://mrburkemath.blogspot.com/2013/07/sound-bite.html corrects another's mistake]]... even though the error was ''spoken'' and not written. |
| 380 | [[/folder]] |
| 381 | |
| 382 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 383 | * You'll find these people across the Internet at times. We'll leave it at that. The start of such an argument on Website/FourChan is announced with "STOP. GRAMMAR TIME." |
| 384 | * From a 1997 issue of ''Website/TheOnion'': "[[http://www.theonion.com/articles/nations-educators-alarmed-by-poorly-written-teen-s,1007/ Nation's Educators Alarmed By Poorly Written Teen Suicide Notes]]". |
| 385 | * The Website/{{Reddit}} community is notorious for its insistence on perfect orthography and grammar. When US President UsefulNotes/BarackObama did a short Q&A on the site during his 2012 election campaign, [[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/z1c9z/i_am_barack_obama_president_of_the_united_states/c60n05h the most upvoted response to his answers]] was a grammar correction:"''an'' asteroid, Mr. President." |
| 386 | * Along the same lines, people on Website/{{Tumblr}} can get very nitpicky when it comes to grammar. The most widespread version of this (almost to the point of [[MemeticMutation memetic levels]]) is the difference between [[http://ericpaz.tumblr.com/post/72481233667/why-are-you-even-alive-your-blog-sux-and-your-ugly "your" and "you're"]]. [[http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyjm7iVXgc1r57l0bo1_500.png This]] sums it up perfectly. Ironically, Tumblr is considered guilty of a brand new range of grammatical errors, including large numbers of posts without capitalization or punctuation. |
| 387 | * On Website/TVTropes, making edits with JustForFun/{{egregious}}ly bad grammar can be [[Administrivia/WhatToDoIfYouAreSuspended grounds for a suspension]]. (We're not ''trying'' to be Grammar Nazis; the mods just don't like our site to look sloppy, understandably enough.) Fortunately, for those in need of writing assistance, the forums offer a thread for you to get help with English [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=b9tcd2k65789p1pglrd92nvr&page=1 here]]. And for the rest of us, remember to just Administrivia/RepairDontRespond. |
| 388 | [[/folder]] |
| 389 | |
| 390 | [[folder:Web Videos]] |
| 391 | * ''Website/CollegeHumor'' has a pastiche of ''Film/InglouriousBasterds'' (specifically, Chapter 1 "Once Upon a Time in Nazi-Occupied France") takes this trope literally and shows that some Grammar Nazis are, in fact, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4vf8N6GpdM actual Nazis]]. |
| 392 | -->'''Perrier [=LaPadite=]:''' There was no Jews here.\ |
| 393 | '''Col. Hans Landa:''' Jew, or Jews, plural?\ |
| 394 | '''[=LaPadite=]:''' Plural.\ |
| 395 | '''Col. Hans Landa:''' ''Wrong!'' You have to match your subject with your verb! |
| 396 | :: : It all ends with [[spoiler:the Nazi being HoistByHisOwnPetard, by using a dangling participle]]. |
| 397 | -->'''Col. Hans Landa:''' Hiding under the floorboards, I have found you. ''[points his gun at the floor to fire]''\ |
| 398 | '''Perrier [=LaPadite=]:''' Wait. You are hiding under the floorboards or is she?\ |
| 399 | '''Shosanna:''' ''[below the floorboards]'' A dangling participle?\ |
| 400 | '''Col. Hans Landa:''' [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone A dangling participle...]] [[spoiler:''[[[DrivenToSuicide shoots himself under the chin]]]'']] |
| 401 | * At least one episode of ''WebVideo/DavidMitchellsSoapbox'' was devoted to David grumpily complaining about people not using the rules of spelling and language properly. This leads to an amusing ContinuityNod a few episodes later when his comedy partner Creator/RobertWebb shows up as a guest host and spends the episode calling David an "arse" because of this (as well as noting some [[{{Hypocrite}} hypocrisies]] with another episode where David discussed what he saw as the pointlessness of efforts to preserve the Gallic language). |
| 402 | * Ross of LetsPlay/HatFilms, if their podcast "Hat Chat" is anything to go by. Minor errors such as "you're versus your" tend to be the things that annoy him, and he doesn't go on about it constantly. |
| 403 | * ''WebVideo/HitlerRants'': One ''Film/{{Downfall}}'' parody lampshades this trope after Günsche mixes up the words "you're" and "your": |
| 404 | -->'''Hitler:''' We have grammar freaks named after us, and you come along and do this! |
| 405 | * WebVideo/{{Jacksfilms}} has a long-running web series that deals with atrociously bad grammar, called "Your Grammar Sucks". This overlaps with other shows he does, such as "[=JackAsk=]". |
| 406 | * Pravus Gaming is infamous for nitpicking grammar and spelling in the ''VideoGame/PlagueInc'' custom scenarios he plays, to the point where [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3S-szagDeI some suggested scenarios lampoon this trait]]. |
| 407 | -->'''Pravus:''' ''[reading the intro of one scenario]'' "Find"... "It's" doesn't have an apostrophe, [[SelfDeprecation welcome to "Pravus Grammar Gaming"]]! |
| 408 | * Ross Scott was invaded by these over the title of his review show ''WebVideo/RosssGameDungeon'', with complaints that there should not be an "s" after the apostrophe. His response is on [[Quotes/GrammarNazi the Quotes page]]. |
| 409 | * "Psychic Powers", a video by WebVideo/{{ShinyObjects|Videos}}, sees Curly enforcing grammar rules via the title powers. |
| 410 | * LetsPlay/LewisBrindley of the LetsPlay/{{Yogscast}} has his moments, often towards ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' map makers with atrocious spelling or grammar. LetsPlay/SimonLane has at times called him "Grammar [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Hitler]]" or "Grandma Hitler". |
| 411 | [[/folder]] |
| 412 | |
| 413 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 414 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': |
| 415 | ** One short has Mr. Plotz hire a very strict teacher to deal with the Warner Siblings. [[EstablishingCharacterMoment Her first scene]] has her give Ralph an "F" for using the double negative "ain't never". |
| 416 | ** A "Pinky and the Brain" short spoofs Creator/OrsonWelles's tirade about the poor writing in a frozen peas commercial, with Brain re-creating it verbatim. (The speech is a favorite of voice actor Creator/MauriceLaMarche.) However, it's given the twist that when Brain storms out of the studio at the end, he's confronted by a waiting room full of other actors ready to read for the role, and, chastened, dashes back to the studio to record his lines as written. |
| 417 | * ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'': "[[Recap/EdEddNEddyS1E24OathToAnEd Oath to an Ed]]" has a moment after the Eds ruin some new clothes that were already far too uncomfortable for them. |
| 418 | -->'''Eddy:''' No big deal. Our old clothes are way better.\ |
| 419 | '''Edd:''' Ahem, no, Eddy, that's ''much'' better. "Our old clothes are ''much'' better.".\ |
| 420 | '''Eddy:''' ''[annoyed]'' Doth my English bug you, bumpkin? |
| 421 | * ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS9E9AndImJoyceKinney And I'm Joyce Kinney]]", the local pastor banishes Lois from the church because she "made a porn" years ago. Lois interrupts her objection to tell him that it's either "You made porn" or "You made a porno". |
| 422 | * Leela from ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' in the episode "[[Recap/FuturamaS6E15MobiusDick Möbius Dick]]". When the crew ventures to another planet to pick up a monument of the first Planet Express crew, Leela points out a grammatical error in the plaque and orders the carver to make an entirely new statue. |
| 423 | -->'''Plaque:''' IN MEMORY OF THE 1ST PLANET EXPRESS SHIP AND IT'S CREW.\ |
| 424 | '''Leela:''' "It's" shouldn't have an apostrophe, that means "and ''it is'' crew". |
| 425 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' finale "[[Recap/GravityFallsS2E20WeirdmageddonPart3TakeBackTheFalls Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back the Falls]]", Ford corrects Stan's statement of "Between me and him" to "Between him and I", and he chides him for his bad grammar. [[spoiler:This proves to be Stan's RageBreakingPoint, causing him to attack Ford, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero breaking the cosmic chain and allowing Bill to gain the upper hand]].]] |
| 426 | * ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': |
| 427 | ** The bookish Twilight Sparkle has shades of this occasionally. In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E24MysteryOnTheFriendshipExpress MMMystery on the Friendship Express]]", she tries to correct Pinkie Pie talking about a mystery as a "whodunnit" to "who did it", but this only makes Pinkie worse ("who did done dood it").[[note]]Note that Pinkie ''was'' correct in using "[[https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/whodunnit whodunnit/whodunit]]", which means a mystery or detective story, but its accuracy in that situation depends on whether [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall she was aware she was in a fictional story]].[[/note]] |
| 428 | ** Maud's boyfriend Mudbriar from "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E3TheMaudCouple The Maud Couple]]" when he first meets Pinkie Pie: |
| 429 | --->'''Pinkie Pie:''' What ''are'' you doing, anyway?\ |
| 430 | '''Mudbriar:''' I am currently speaking to a--\ |
| 431 | '''Pinkie Pie:''' I mean, can I help you move this along? What are you looking for: rolling pins, cupcake tins, cookie cutters with tails and fins? ''[Pinkie starts juggling the aforementioned items]''\ |
| 432 | '''Mudbriar:''' ''[to a salespony]'' Good-bye.\ |
| 433 | '''Pinkie Pie:''' ''That's'' what you've been standing here all this time to say?\ |
| 434 | '''Mudbriar:''' I was deciding between "good-bye" and "see you later".\ |
| 435 | '''Pinkie Pie:''' Uh... but they're the same thing!\ |
| 436 | '''Mudbriar:''' Technically, they're very different. "See you later" implies an event in the near future wherein we see each other; "good-bye" expresses good wishes where parting or at the end of a conversation.\ |
| 437 | '''Pinkie Pie:''' Yeah, same thing.\ |
| 438 | '''Mudbriar:''' I will not apologize for speaking with precision.\ |
| 439 | '''Pinkie:''' In that case, apology ''not'' accepted! Goodbye, see ya later, same thing! ''[Pinkie slams the door on Mudbriar]'' |
| 440 | * In ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'', Creator/HarlanEllison is a recurring character, and in his first appearance, he goes into an angry tirade over Shaggy's habit of [[LikeIsLikeAComma peppering "like" into his sentences]]. |
| 441 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': |
| 442 | ** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12E18TrilogyOfError Trilogy of Error]]", Lisa creates a robot called Linguo that is designed for this very trope. Things get very amusing when it starts correcting Lisa's grammar. |
| 443 | --->'''Lisa:''' Almost done. Just lay still.\ |
| 444 | '''Linguo:''' "Lie still."\ |
| 445 | '''Lisa:''' I knew that. Just testing.\ |
| 446 | '''Linguo:''' Sentence fragment.\ |
| 447 | '''Lisa:''' "Sentence fragment" is also a sentence fragment.\ |
| 448 | '''Linguo:''' ''[{{beat}}]'' Must conserve battery power. ''[shuts itself down]'' |
| 449 | ::: : Later in the episode, Linguo ends up surrounded by Springfield's resident mafiosos, and their terrible English overloads the poor robot, causing him to explode. |
| 450 | ---->'''Homer:''' Oh no! Linguo... dead?!\ |
| 451 | '''Linguo:''' Linguo ''is'' dead. ''[shuts down]'' |
| 452 | ** From "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS14E10PrayAnything Pray Anything]]": |
| 453 | --->'''Bart:''' Lisa Leslie, you got game!\ |
| 454 | '''Lisa Leslie:''' I think you mean, I ''have'' game. Try to speak correctly.\ |
| 455 | '''Bart:''' You go, girl!\ |
| 456 | '''Lisa Leslie:''' Yes, I will depart, lest your bad grammar rub off on me. |
| 457 | %%* In ''WesternAnimation/TuffPuppy'', there's the Grammar Gofer, who bums Kitty out when she and Dudley defeat Quacky the Duck in the episode "Lucky Duck". (Administrivia/ZeroContextExample; name aside, what more specifically does he say/do that fits the trope?) |
| 458 | [[/folder]] |
| 459 | |
| 460 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 461 | * {{Averted|Trope}} with UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler, ironically enough; he was an ''appalling'' writer (as anyone who had read ''Literature/MeinKampf'' can attest), as well as a terrible speller. In his native tongue, he was often crude and unsophisticated, at least compared to most politicians and world leaders, to the point where the multi-lingual Italian dictator UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini remarked that ''his own'' German was better. The ''original'' -- and '''literal''' -- Grammar Nazi was Hitler's Minister of Education, Bernhard Rust. In 1943-44, when Germany perhaps had bigger things to worry about, Rust tried to force through a standardised version of the German language to be spoken and used in all parts of the Reich, intended to eliminate inconsistencies and establish a single formal version of German. He intended this to be imposed in schools so that the next generation would arise speaking Standard German as he conceived it. It is unknown what penalties would have applied to grammatical and spelling errors, but one assumes there would have been sanctions for people getting it wrong. Ironically, the postwar West German government went ahead with the more sensible and best-thought-out reforms Rust was seeking to introduce, making it one of the few lasting government changes introduced in the Nazi era. |
| 462 | * Played straight for UsefulNotes/JosephStalin. The man ''hated'' spelling and grammatical errors, and simply could not let them go unremarked when he came across them -- two thousand of the books that survive from his library have marks and annotations in them where he circled and/or commented upon errors or grammatically acceptable but questionable phrasings. He was also famously self-conscious about his imperfect ability to speak other languages, always possessing a distinct Georgian accent, and after he came to power some people made deliberate pronunciation and grammatical errors of their own when speaking to him (to avoid drawing attention to any mistakes he had made). |
| 463 | ** Would a Grammar Stalinist be part of the [[{{Pun}} Red Pen Army]]? |
| 464 | * Word for Windows's Grammar Check. It's notoriously picky, picky, picky to the point of uselessness. Most people don't speak in a manner that is grammatically correct, so it will complain about a lot of your dialogue if you're writing a story; it will complain about perfectly grammatically correct entries if they don't match its database; it can't interpret slang; it has no sense of humor; and doesn't grasp metaphors. And even after all of that, it will miss some mistakes anyway in grammatical examples of RougeAnglesOfSatin. Most people leave it off. |
| 465 | * The aptly-named Creator/KelseyGrammer (TV's ''Series/{{Frasier}}'') says that when he talks to people, he often stops the conversation to correct them on the proper use of the English language. |
| 466 | * Similarly, the late [[Series/TheOddCouple1970 Tony Randall]] corrected the host's grammar on at least one appearance on ''Series/TheHollywoodSquares''. |
| 467 | * This kind of behavior is not limited to English speakers. Germans ''love'' it, to the point that there's even a ''bestselling'' series of books (called ''Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod''[[note]]which means "The dative (indirect-object case) is the death of the genitive (possession case)", but written in a common dialectal form which translates literally to "The dative is to the genitive its death", [[SelfDemonstratingArticle showing how the indirect-object form is killing the possessive form]].[[/note]]) dealing with all kinds of grammar and spelling errors occurring in everyday German. But careful not to use the exact term in front of the average German. [[NeverLiveItDown Germans regard the issue as much too serious to use the term jokingly.]] |
| 468 | * The late William Safire had for many years two columns in ''[[UsefulNotes/AmericanNewspapers The New York Times]]'': a weekday one is given to conservative political commentary[[note]]He gained his fame as a speechwriter to UsefulNotes/RichardNixon, UsefulNotes/SpiroAgnew, and a large number of other Republicans with better reputations than those two, and is famous for minting a large number of the political memes of '70s politics.[[/note]] and one in the ''Times'' Sunday magazine entitled "On Language". "On Language" was by far the more famous, as it commented on a variety of issues and trends in American English (and occasionally other languages); many of these were usage and grammar nitpicks, which Safire would manage to make readable and even entertaining to a general audience. It was famously corrected by linguist Stephen Pinker in "The Language Instinct", where he pointed out that a number of Safire's snarkier corrections were in fact wrong. |
| 469 | * ''Magazine/TheNewYorker'' is known for its rather odd rules on spelling and formatting; for example, using a diaeresis where most other people would use a hyphen ("coöperate", instead of co-operate or cooperate) or spelling out numbers in full, no matter how big of a mouthful ("forty-two thousand five hundred and sixty-two dollars" instead of just writing $42,562; probably done because there's less chance a typo will significantly alter the number, the same reason contracts have every number written out in digits and letters). |
| 470 | * Alan Duncan, a British MP and a junior minister, [[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9349970/Alan-Duncan-issues-memo-at-DFID-banning-jargon-words-like-going-forward.html described himself as a "grammar fascist"]] while issuing a memo decrying grammar errors and use of jargon within his department. |
| 471 | * Early versions of spell-checking programs were especially like this. They would hang on words like "its" and "you're", having you make sure that you checked the proper usage. |
| 472 | %%* As seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y4zxcSuwlI&list=PLPmF87KBljK-5qPnuqVxNqlxNBNGR4uQL here]], this is a Berserk Button for Wrestling/CMPunk. (Administrivia/WeblinksAreNotExamples) |
| 473 | * [[http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/language-blog/ John McIntyre]], a copy editor for the ''Baltimore Sun'', devotes his blog not only to clarifying sloppy usage but also to criticizing pretentious Grammar Nazis who try to enforce [[http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/language-blog/bal-the-peeververein-canon-20150702-story.html what he considers bogus rules]], such as not splitting infinitives or ending sentences with prepositions. |
| 474 | -->"[[https://www.facebook.com/baltimoresun/videos/10154453872849712/?hc_ref=SEARCH Now imagine]] someone asking you, '[[PrepositionsAreNotToEndSentencesWith For what are friends?]]' [[TakeThat Do you think that person's going to have many?]]" |
| 475 | * The "[[http://www.queens-english-society.com/ Queen's English Society]]" is a self-appointed organization in the UK that attempts to guard against what they see as a decline in English usage and education by setting up national standards, such as rejecting "sidewalk" for "pavement". Despite their Grammar Nazi pretensions, serious linguists and editors tend to regard them with mockery, such as the blog Language Log [[http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=4002 gleefully pointing out]] that the QES's official statements are riddled with grammatical errors. |
| 476 | * [[http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/06/03/nazi_grammar_tweet_american_nazi_party_recommends_careful_spelling_and_punctuation.html The American Nazi Party called someone out for bad grammar in a tweet]], thus making this trope literal. Ironically, their website contains a spelling error in the first answer in their FAQ. |
| 477 | -->''It isn't that difficult to use correct spelling and grammar. Be professional and disciplined in everything that you do for the cause.'' |
| 478 | * The Finnish language contains a specific word ("pilkunnussija") to describe someone who fits this trope. [[PrecisionFStrike The literal English translation of that word is not fit for polite conversation]].[[note]] Although it's safe to say "pilkun" is a comma -- a wanton one.[[/note]] |
| 479 | * Any programming language, given that computers tend to be LiteralMinded and won't accept anything even spelt slightly incorrectly. |
| 480 | * Language historians believe that this is one possible way to actually ''kill'' a language. As one example, medieval Germany was one of the last countries that had Latin as a mother tongue. When purists demanded to "clean" Latin to return its grammar and vocabulary to that of Ancient Rome, no one could speak it natively anymore and the language just disappeared. |
| 481 | * Just to prove [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools Tropes Are Not Bad]], it's quite possible for anyone so inclined to get a job for a publisher as a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copy_editing copy editor]] and work as a professional Grammar Nazi, correcting writers' grammar all day for a living. |
| 482 | * Interestingly, {{averted|Trope}} by almost all serious linguists. In linguistics, prescribing how people should talk (a practice creatively named "prescriptivism") is viewed as a cardinal sin -- it has been said that the Linguist Mafia will run anybody caught doing it over with a bus. Almost all serious linguists are descriptivists, who only ''describe'' how people talk. If English speakers started frequently phrasing sentences as verb-object-subject with postpositions instead of (or along with) the standard subject-verb-object with prepositions ("I am going to the store" becomes "Am going the store to I"), they wouldn't criticize; would just note the change they and try explain to why happened it.[[note]]They would just note the change and try to explain why it happened[[/note]] |
| 483 | * Examples like that are part of ''why'' linguists avoid prescriptivism. There is no English dialect in which "Am going the store to I" is grammatical, and everyone can tell that immediately. On the other hand, correcting the use of double negatives by an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American_Vernacular_English AAVE]] speaker can fall under the idea that a standard dialect is inherently superior to all others. |
| 484 | * [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_de_Mahy,_marquis_de_Favras Thomas de Mahy, marquis de Favras]] was a French nobleman and supporter of the royalist side during UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution. Condemned to death by hanging in 1790 (for taking part in a royalist plot), he allegedly said "I see that you have made three spelling mistakes" upon reading his death sentence. |
| 485 | * Basically all Tropers who'll every so often ''edit'' the page. |
| 486 | [[/folder]] |
| 487 | ---- |
| 488 | ->''... Heil dem Bindestrich!'' |
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