History Main / GrammarNazi

* 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 peppering "[[{{Catchphrase}} like]]" into his sentences.

** Several cops laugh about a incident report stating that a perp fell "prostate" instead of "prostrate".

* ''Literature/TheFoundationTrilogy'': In Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/TheMule", Mayor Indbur III corrects the grammar before he signs anything. It's evidence of his [[SuperOCD bookkeeper]] personality that he must correct the improper usage of commas before he will place a document in his Out Tray.

* ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'': [[Creator/JohnCleese A centurion]], catching Brian in the act of writing anti-Roman graffiti, 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''! (One imagines this scene was inspired by one of the Pythons being forced to write lines for Latin errors in public school.)

** Also used as a gag in ''VideoGame/WolfensteinIITheNewColossus'': A German Nazi is sizing up two [[TheKlan 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:

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.

* In Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/TheMule", Mayor Indbur III corrects the grammar before he signs anything. It's evidence of his [[SuperOCD bookkeeper]] personality that he must correct the improper usage of commas before he will place a document in his Out Tray.

* Creator/BeverlyCleary's ''[[Literature/DearMrHenshaw 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.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

--->'''Col. Hans Landa:''' Hiding under the floorboards, I have found you. ''[points his gun at the floor to fire]''\\

''Note:'' If you feel the urge to correct grammar on [[Wiki/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.

* On Wiki/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.

%%* As seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y4zxcSuwlI&list=PLPmF87KBljK-5qPnuqVxNqlxNBNGR4uQL here]], this is a BerserkButton for Wrestling/CMPunk. (Administrivia/WeblinksAreNotExamples)

"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."\\

%%* "The Eyes Have It" is a short comedy by Creator/PhilipKDick where the {{Narrator}} believes Earth is infiltrated by aliens after reading a line in a novel in which a character's eyes "moved about the room". References to characters having "no brains" or "no spine" only [[BizarreAlienBiology reinforce his apprehension]]. In the end, however, the protagonist decides not to do anything about the AlienInvasion. He doesn't have the stomach for it.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1550037236098702700
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.

* 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]]

* Language historians believe 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.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** In "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.

** 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.
--->'''Homer:''' Oh no! Linguo... dead?!\\

** From "Pray Anything":

* In ''WesternAnimation/TuffPuppy'' there was the Grammar Gofer who was bumming Kitty out when she and Dudley defeated Quacky The Duck in the episode "Lucky Duck".
* In the ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' finale "Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back the Falls", Ford corrects Stan's statement of "Between me and him" to "Between him and me", and he chides him for his bad grammar. [[spoiler: This proved to be Stan's RageBreakingPoint, causing him to attack Ford, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero breaking the cosmic chain and allowing Bill to gain the upper hand]].]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'', Creator/HarlanEllison was a recurring character and in his first appearance he goes into an angry tirade over Shaggy's habbit of peppering "[[{{Catchphrase}} like]]" into his sentences.
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': In "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".
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'':
** 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".
** A "Pinky and the Brain" short spoofs the Orson Welles example above, with Brain re-creating verbatim Welles's tirade about the poor writing in a frozen peas commercial. (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.
* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'': "Oath to an Ed" has a moment after the Eds ruin some new clothes that were already far too uncomfortable for them.
-->'''Eddy:''' No big deal. Our old clothes are way better.\\
'''Edd:''' Ahem, no, Eddy, that's ''much'' better. "Our old clothes are ''much'' better.".\\
'''Eddy:''' ''[annoyed]'' Doth my English bug you, bumpkin?

* Word for Windows' 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. It will even 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.

* Similarly, the late [[Series/TheOddCouple1970 Tony Randall]] corrected the host's grammar at least one appearance on ''Series/TheHollywoodSquares''.
* From Hannity & Colmes:
-->'''Sean Hannity:''' What I said was that your opinion was thoughtless, what you wrote was crude, and mean, and hateful.\\
'''Creator/ChristopherHitchens:''' And then you took up all the time for my answer with your long, rather unlettered questioning.
* 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]]. Ironically, a German high school in the city of Dachau has adopted a very [[http://www.effner.de/ interesting logo,]] most likely unaware of the Grammar Nazi's unofficial sign. By coincidence, the town was the location of a notorious concentration camp.
* 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, Spiro Agnew, 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.
** 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.

* 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.

* As seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y4zxcSuwlI&list=PLPmF87KBljK-5qPnuqVxNqlxNBNGR4uQL here]], this is a BerserkButton for Wrestling/CMPunk.

--> "[[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?]]"

* [[http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/06/03/nazi_grammar_tweet_american_nazi_party_recommends_careful_spelling_and_punctuation.html 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.

* [[http://www.queenofwands.net/d/20040628.html The Grammar Nazi]] from ''Webcomic/QueenOfWands'' advertises the Grammar Fork[[{{Tradesnark}} (tm)]], used for [[EyeScream gouging your own eyes out]] to spare yourself the sight of poor grammar and spelling on the internet.

* 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.
* 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 refused to change it, and Adams withdrew his objection, saying he'd 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.]]

'''Firmin:''' ... Written.
* 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.

* 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.
* In ''VideoGame/MarvelAvengersAlliance'', Maria Ross interrupts one of 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."
* 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.

* In ''VideoGame/LEGOMarvelSuperHeroes'', Captain Britain 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.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', Varric reveals 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.
* Everly from ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonUpdated'' is this. Osvaldo's parents didn't like him marrying her because of this.

** Also used as a gag in ''VideoGame/WolfensteinIITheNewColossus'': a German Nazi is sizing up two [[TheKlan 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:

'''Soldier:''' Incorrect! ''Danke Schön''!\\

* 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''".
* 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 she isn't quite as smart as she lets on, depending on how generous you are to the writers.

* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': Strong Bad would often correct people's grammar in the e-mails he received. He could 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?"

* The [[http://www.angryflower.com/aposter.html mascot]] of Grammar Nazis everywhere is Webcomic/BobTheAngryFlower.
* Another favorite is the Grammar Nazi from ''[[http://www.queenofwands.net/d/20040628.html Queen of Wands]]''.
* 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.
* Meanwhile, in absolute obscurity, the Fairy of Good Grammar from ''Webcomic/SpellingTheVacuum'', whose grammar powers tie the universe together.
* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'':
** [[TheSpock Vaarsuvius]] frequently corrects grammatical errors done by other characters. In a ''Dragon Magazine'' strip, V breaks the protection spell that was making them invisible to a pair of wights to admonish them for ending every sentence with a preposition.
** 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):
--->'''Tsukiko:''' We need a new Head Executioner, you know. [[BadBoss Xykon]] killed the last one [[DisproportionateRetribution for spelling "guillotine" wrong on his daily reports]].
* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'':
** Mr. Raven is [[http://egscomics.com/?date=2008-04-18 presented]] and [[http://egscomics.com/?date=2008-06-20 referenced]] as one, and his Hitler Forelock does not help his case at all.
** 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.
* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' parodied 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.
* ''Webcomic/OzyAndMillie'': As Millie puts it, she "just invaded Grammar Czechoslovakia and duped Grammar Neville Chamberlain, and now it's on to Grammar Poland and Grammar World Conquest!". Ozy proceeds by calling her an Analogy Nazi.
* Grammar is just one of the many things that makes Butch of ''Webcomic/ChoppingBlock'' completely flip out. [[http://choppingblock.keenspot.com/d/20090505.html Case in point]], this time over the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greengrocers%39_apostrophe Greengrocers' apostrophe]].
* In ''Webcomic/OurLittleAdventure'', for Joyelle (a LawfulEvil Devil) [[http://danielscreations.com/ola/comics/ep0324.html the use of contractions calls for abuse.]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2007-11-30 literal ones beat up Slick for not using the subjunctive.]]
* Sandra's grandma in ''Webcomic/SandraAndWoo'' [[http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2009/04/08/0049-graffiti/ gets in trouble]] when [[DoWrongRight correcting graffiti]].

** It dealt with one, a character was being dragged away by the Nazi:

** The [[http://www.explosm.net/comics/997/ grammar sheriff]].
** [[http://www.explosm.net/comics/2712/ The grammatical-errors-allergic guy]].
* 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.
* Jane in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' is one of these. Her friends often tease her about it.
* 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.

* ''Webcomic/{{XKCD}}'': [[http://xkcd.com/1771/ Luke starts critiquing Palpatine's grammar and then he and Vader start arguing about it.]]
* ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'':
** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-12-31 strip 2011-12-31]]: How to make a grammar Nazi self-destruct?
--->"I'm about to send you a text message. If you text back, you explode."\\
"I don't understand. Why would I...?"\\
''Text message: "Your going to die."''\\
'''BOOM'''
** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2013-09-04 2013-09-04]]: A guy complains about the grammar of what turns out to be a book by Creator/ErnestHemingway. Also, Shakespeare misspells everything.
* 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.

* The Website/{{Reddit}} community is notorious for its insistence on perfect orthography and grammar. When US President Barack Obama 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.''
* 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.

* On [[Wiki/TVTropes This Very Wiki]], 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.

* ''Website/CollegeHumor'':
** 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]]. It all ends with [[spoiler:the Nazi being HoistByHisOwnPetard, by using a dangling participle]].
--->'''Perrier [=LaPadite=]:''' There was no Jews here.\\

'''Col. Hans Landa:''' WRONG! You have to match your subject with your verb!
** Incidentally, he has a [[HoistByHisOwnPetard similar fate]] as the ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'' above.

* "Psychic Powers", a video by WebVideo/{{ShinyObjects|Videos}}, sees Curly enforcing grammar rules via the title powers.
* ''WebVideo/HitlerRants'': One ''Film/{{Downfall}}'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShM22z7Pbek parody]] lampshades this trope, after Günsche mixes up the words "you're" and "your":

* 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".

* At least one episode of ''[[Creator/DavidMitchellActor David Mitchell's Soapbox]]'' was devoted to David grumpily complaining about people not using the rules of spelling and language properly. This led to an amusing CallBack a few episodes later when his comedy partner Creator/RobertWebb showed up as a guest host, which he spent 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).
* 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.

* 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.]]
-->'''Pravus:''' ''[reading the intro of one scenario]'' "Find"... "It's" doesn't have an apostrophe, [[SelfDeprecation welcome to "Pravus Grammar Gaming!"]]

** 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 [[FridgeLogic accuracy in that situation depends on whether]] [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall she was aware she was in a fictional story]].[[/note]]
** Maud's boyfriend Mudbriar from "The Maud Couple" when he first meets Pinkie Pie:

* Leela from ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' in the episode "Mobious 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.
-->'''Plaque:''' IN MEMORY OF THE 1ST PLANET EXPRESS SHIP AND IT'S CREW.\\
'''Leela:''' "It's" shouldn't have an apostrophe, That means "and ''it is'' crew."

* ''ComicStrip/ThePerryBibleFellowship'' has, as always, its own [[http://www.pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF099-Grammar_Wizard.gif twisted take]] on the concept.

* A humorous short ''Franchise/GIJoe'' [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6414487/1/Sergeant_major_SchoolMarm fic]] 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.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition''[='s=] ''Fanfic/WalkingInCircles'', when they finally get 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 she used the wrong verb.

* 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.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'':
-->'''Yzma:''' Tell us where the talking llama is, and we'll burn your house to the ground!\\
'''Kronk:''' Uh, don't you mean "Or"?\\
'''Yzma:''' ''[sigh]'' Tell us where the talking llama is, '''OR''' we'll burn your house to the ground!

* ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'': [[Creator/JohnCleese A centurion]], catching Brian in the act of writing anti-Roman graffiti, 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''! (One imagines this scene was inspired by one of the Pythons being forced to write lines for Latin errors in public school.)
-->'''Centurion:''' People called "Romanes", they go the house?
* 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.
* 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!"
* In ''Film/LoadedWeapon1'' we have this exchange:
-->'''Becker:''' Whoa, whoa, whoa. I don't know nothin', I didn't see nothin', I didn't say nothin'.\\
'''Luger:''' "Nothing". The word is "nothing", not "nothin'". There's an "-ing" on the end of it, "nothing".\\
'''Becker:''' OK, nothinG. Nothin G. NOTHIIIIIIIIING. 'K, you happy?\\
'''Luger:''' That's better. But that's not what you told York.\\
'''Becker:''' I don't know no York, and where's my food?\\
'''Luger:''' We ate it. And please, no double negatives.\\
'''Becker:''' Sorry. I don't know ANY York.

* Lionel from ''Film/MurderByDeath'', who continuously corrects Sidney Wang's AsianSpeekeeEngrish throughout the film.
-->'''Lionel:''' Pronounce your goddamn pronouns!
* Scott appears to be one in ''Film/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld'', though it only comes up once.
-->'''Todd Ingram:''' We have unfinished business, I and he.\\
'''Scott:''' He and me.\\
'''Todd:''' Don't you talk to me about grammar!
:: 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.
* Creator/VanKootenEnDeBie: Prof. Kipping who tries to defend several language mistakes and rules.
* 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.
* In ''Film/WithHonors'' Creator/JoePesci's character, Harvard Bum Simon, has the following exchange with a snooty Harvard professor.
-->'''Simon:''' Which door do I leave from?\\
'''Professor:''' At Harvard, we don't end our sentences with prepositions.\\
'''Simon:''' Okay. Which door do I leave from, asshole?
* 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.

''[=*=]Dave gets up and leaves the room.[=*=]''

* Captain 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]]!"

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/FoundationSeries'': In "Literature/TheMule", Mayor Indbur III corrects the grammar before he signs anything. It's evidence of his [[SuperOCD bookkeeper]] personality that he must correct the improper usage of commas before he will place a document in his Out Tray.
%%* Janine Kishi in ''Literature/TheBabySittersClub''.
* In the ''Literature/{{Confessions}}'', 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. St. Augustine himself internalized this rhetorical mentality and it ruined his life for years to come.

* 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.

* Most members on the noble side of mysterious organization V.F.D. are revealed to be this, in ''Literature/LemonySnicketTheUnauthorizedAutobiography''. Another editor's note in the latter 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:

* 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.

* 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.
* Creator/BeverlyCleary's ''[[Literature/DearMrHenshaw 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 he needs to fix his attitude. Luckily, his next English teacher is far nicer.
* 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.
* 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.

-->'''Penny:''' I don't care if Richard Feynman was a purple leprechaun who lived in my butt.\\
'''Sheldon:''' Penny meant if he were a purple leprechaun. Penny forgot to use a subjunctive. (The subjunctive would be appropriate if Penny had said "wouldn't" rather than "can't".)

*** [[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 you're actually saying "[[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Atmospheric Emissions System system]]".

* Niles Crane, from ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', was known for this. Just two examples:

--->'''Niles:''' ''[reading it over Martin's shoulder]'' You know that's the improper use of a hyphen.\\

* Ross from ''Series/{{Friends}}'' was often this kind of Nazi or at least his irritated friends had the opinion that he was. He had a habit of correcting people when they misused "who" for "whom" and occasionally could become quite irate when confronted with bad grammar (or he would get angry about something else but still feel compelled to nitpick).
-->'''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"!
** 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.

** 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.

** Tywin deduces that Arya is a highborn girl when she calls him "my lord" instead of "m'lord." She quickly covers by claiming her mother was a handmaiden who taught her to speak "proper...properly!"

* Carol on ''Series/TheLastManOnEarth'' is one of these, driving fellow apocalypse-survivor Phil (even more) crazy.
* 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", its far wider usage of "destroy completely" has officially been entered into dictionaries as the second meaning.

* ''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]].
* ''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 quotes page for complete exchange).
--->'''Mr. Bewick:''' Without you... I'll get hung for this!\\

** He did this to Molly on his website, too. "'It's' not 'its.' "

-->'''Jaffa:''' No matter what you have endured, you have never experianced the likes of what Anubis is capable of.\\

** Several cops laugh about a incident report stating that a perp fell "prostate" instead of "prostrate."
** 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."
** 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 "Clarifications" when [=McNulty=] and Christeson are looking at a body:

* In "The Worst That Could Happen" a man is singing to a woman who has dumped him for someone else. He sings, "Baby, if he loves you more than me, maybe it's the best thing for you, but it's the worst that could happen to me." This sentence, of course, is saying that if the other man loves the woman more than he loves the man singing, it's the worst that could happen. After all these years, we find out that the other man was the singer's lover and is leaving him for a woman.
* In 1972 hit "Ben", Music/MichaelJackson sang, "I used to say, 'I' and 'me', now it's 'us', now it's 'we'." This drove Grammar Nazis completely crazy.
* Same deal for Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance." ''Never'' sing the phrase "You and me could write a bad romance" around an English major.

* On a mid-'90s WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunks country collaboration album, Simon is paired with Aaron Tippin to sing Tippin's "There Ain't Nothing 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.

** 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 "inferred" when she should be using "implied", prompting the narrator to wonder why some people put up with that.
** "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 threats physical violence to people who do not use proper grammar. Also, the final lyric in the song [[HypocriticalHumor intetentionally contains a split inifitive.]]
* Father John Misty's AntiLoveSong "The Night Josh Tillman Came To Our Apartment":
-->''She says, like, literally, music is the air she breathes\\
And the [[{{Malaproper}} malaprops]] make me wanna fucking scream\\
I wonder if she even knows what that word means?!\\
Well, it's '''literally''' not that!''

* 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 ''Heavy Metal'' run out.)
* For years, the intro for the [[SpeedRound lightning round]] on ''Radio/WaitWaitDontTellMe'' included the line "Each of our players now has sixty seconds to answer as many fill-in-the-blank questions as ''they'' can." At some point in the late [[TurnOfTheMillennium Noughties]] they abruptly abandoned the "singular they" so that the intro now said "...as he or she can," the form in which it remained thereafter.

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]]....

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 OK 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.''

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 [[SpellMyNameWithAnS 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]].

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 Nazis.]] 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".

* Creator/OrsonWelles became one when he did a voiceover commercial for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frozen_Peas frozen peas]].

* The comedian Creator/OttoWaalkes (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!

* Yorick from ''ComicBook/YTheLastMan'' 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 Gene Roddenberry.
* Minor ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' 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''.
* Lobo has once been captured by Grammar Nazis who forced him into a competition to see if he would 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 he had cut her legs and them 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.
* The Franchise/GreenLantern miniseries ''Emerald Dawn 2'' shows Sinestro correcting the syntax of people he's beating down back when he's Hal Jordan's Corps-appointed mentor.

** Ultra Magnus once threw 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 would object 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.]]

* Someone once asked Lemont of ''ComicStrip/{{Candorville}}'' who died and made him the grammar police. He responded that he was actually being the idiom police.
%%* Joe's mother from ''ComicStrip/JumpStart''.
* The [[http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/StrunkAndPtah 6 October 2011]] ''ComicStrip/NonSequitur'' features a nonsensical version of this trope in ancient Egypt.

-->'''Niles:''' ''[reading it over Martin's shoulder]'' You know that's the improper use of a hyphen.\\

-->'''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.\\

--->'''Prisoner:''' Without you... I'll get hung for this!\\

''[prisoner looks relieved]''\\

--->'''Tsukiko:''' We need a new Head Executioner, you know. Xykon killed the last one for spelling "guillotine" wrong on his daily reports.

* Sandra's grandma in ''Webcomic/SandraAndWoo'' [[http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2009/04/08/0049-graffiti/ gets in trouble when correcting graffiti]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': A "Pinky and the Brain" short spoofs the Orson Welles example above, with Brain re-creating verbatim Welles's tirade about the poor writing in a frozen peas commercial. (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.

* CarlHiaasen's ''Star Island'': The hired bodyguard is one and is so aggravated by his charge's ValleyGirl speech patterns that he corrects her with electroshock.

* 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".]]