How often do you take delight in spotting a grammatical error in text or as a friend speaks? Does it get your gander up when you spot such errors in published books?
It was quite revealing when book lovers in the age group of 26 to 35 took a survey regarding their reading habits. It seems women are bigger grammar snobs than men. “As many as 79 % of women surveyed claimed to be grammar snobs compared to men,” the survey showed.
One of the more bizarre facts to come out of the survey is that 28% Chennaiites have fought with their spouse over poor grammar skills. Whether in the workplace or on social media, people of the opposite sex have a peculiar tendency to apportion blame for silly grammatical errors. And even some people don’t think twice about ‘unfriending’ peers on social media for poor grammar.
“On being asked regarding ‘unfollowing’ people on social media for poor grammar, 32% said they would ‘unfollow’ people for cringe-worthy grammar while 68% said they couldn’t be so pernickety because grammar is almost dead in social media,” according to the survey.
However, some people go to the extent of giving up close relationships, says the survey. “Six per cent of respondents said they had broken up over bad grammar”. Indeed, 11% respondents from Chennai derive sadistic pleasure out of rectifying errors on social media.
More than half the children have a bone to pick in their mother’s grocery list if items are misspelled. But more often grammar is a bone of contention between couples as “31% Chennaiites agreed to always correcting people’s grammar while 55 % said they will rectify depending on their mood”.
There are, however, romantics who believe that love conquers all, including bad grammar. According to the survey, “71% say love conquers all”. So no issues, not even wrong spelling or wrong words or usage can separate them.
Interesting data has also come out about grammar snobbery from the survey by Landmark Bookstores. At workplaces, 61% want to write directly to their boss in case of grammatical errors while 25% wouldn’t react and prefer being in their boss’ good books. On the contrary, to “75% will point out grammatical errors to their subordinates. Even some of the surveyed people responded that if they see a sign with grammatical errors, 32% will cringe about the error while only 19% would inform the owner about the error.”
The survey covered over 2,500 people across the country by Landmark Bookstores.
