7 minute read
Opinion
Leaving language bullying behind
Young(ish), scrappy & hungry Erin Kavanagh-Hall
I need to come clean, Wairarapa — I’ve been a language bully.
Let me explain. The term was coined by US political magazine Slate in 2013 — referring to someone excessively concerned with “proper” written English. And isn’t afraid to let others know when they’ve deviated from the path.
Language bullies are usually found on social media — correcting every misplaced apostrophe, overused adverb and malapropism that crosses their path. We’ve all seen it: someone makes an inflammatory, politically incorrect statement on a Facebook news page, and someone else responds by taking a metaphorical red pen to their spelling and grammatical errors (“You want fewer immigrants, mate — not less!”). Ms Grammar Snob gets a flurry of “likes”, Mr No More Open Borders gets progressively feistier, and the original debate remains unresolved.
Yup — I’ve been Ms Grammar more times than I care to count.
There’s nothing wrong with having a passion for correct English. There are situations where poorly rendered sentences can undermine one’s message. Hence, we pay copy editors and software coders to weed out our language fails.
There is, however, far less riding on your average Facebook exchange than on a best-selling novel. So, why all the grammar shaming?
Exploring the phenomenon in a 2020 article, Guardian journalist Poppy Noor theorised that language bullying is a “power play”. The language bully takes objection to a person’s argument and attempts to gain the upper hand by exposing chinks in their armour [i.e their poor language skills]. They “win”, not by addressing the substance of the other person’s statement, but resorting to belittlement and humiliation.
For the Slate article, writer Matthew Malady interviewed Stamford University psychology professor Benoit Moran — who put it down to fragile egos.
“The way we evaluate our competence is relative to other people. If I need to feel good about [myself], one way I could do that…is give myself evidence that other people’s language skills suck.”
Thrilling though it is to “checkmate” an opponent with our unimpeachable vocabulary, it’s as problematic and meanspirited as the comments we’re objecting to. To correct language errors during an argument is a kind of “gotcha” moment — implying the other person is less intelligent. But there are, in fact, many reasons people struggle to express themselves in writing.
They may not have had access to “quality” education. They may have learning difficulties. English may not be their first language (and, let’s face it, English is weird). Yes, some opinions are
PHOTO/STOCK.ADOBE.COM
offensive — but minds aren’t likely to be changed by classism, ableism, and xenophobia.
Sometimes, people make errors because, well, they’re human. Cognitive psychologist Maryellen MacDonald spoke on this in an interview with the Washington Post. Words with similar sounds and spellings, she said, are grouped together within the brain. We may logically know the difference between “their”, “they’re”, and “there” — but the brain doesn’t always distinguish between them, especially when we’re writing at speed. As WaPo writer
Andrew Heisel put it, mocking someone for a misspelt word “is like mocking the heart for skipping a beat.” If you think you may be a language bully — I understand.
Objectionable online comments are like
Goombas in the Super Mario universe — it hurts to bump into one and playing Grammar Police can be a fun way to blow it up. But I’ve found stepping away from my phone is better for the old blood pressure. And so, I resolve to leave Ms Grammar Snob behind.
People will always be, to quote the meme, Wrong On The Internet. Don’t let them ruin your day.
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The majority of them.
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Blowing out the cobwebs.
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