I hate being the know-it-all. Help me stop.

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"It is better to keep silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt" - Mark Twain..

words I try to live by...

I'm not good at spelling. I remember when in my second year of grade 2, the teacher asked my to spell "park" on the first day in front of everyone, and since I'm not the most verbally...whatever of people (I constantly lose words, like then); I couldn't spell it, and kids laughed at me, it didn't make me feel good at all. I remember in grade 11 a teacher laughed at me in front of the whole mathematics class as she told me to get out of her class on the first day for I wasn't smart enough for it. It didn't make me feel good.

I've always been seen as the know-it-all, but that's been due to me pointing out the facts; I'm usually not wrong, unfortunately. I don't mean to be condescending, demeaning, and etcetera, I just don't know social graces, so I'll point out factual errors. I'd expect people to do it to me.

There's a difference between correcting people due to factual accuracy without ill intent meant and being downright mean.

I am a mediocre speller, so I don't hold it against other people...I just don't have the energy to go back and spell-check every questionable word.
I have known some very bright people...(a person in particular who was prone to calling me a ret*d)....who were shockingly bad spellers, and I have not thought the less of them...oh well..that is off-subject....

I had more of the "little professor" in me when I was younger. I was a fact-sponge...lived in the library...stayed home from school watching PBS alot...etc....so I was a better reader than my peers at an early age, and could spew out factiods left and right, and make really high scores on standardised tests, ...(I carried a Roget's Theasaurus around with me in the 4th grade)...all the while i was an academic zombie....later, (early Jr. High)...I would go to these academic tournaments, where I didn't understand the protocols and would disruptively blurt out answers out-of-turn ....In high school, if I was particularly stimulated by a class, I would be the one raising their hand every five minutes...yes, I got on everyone's nerves.....

I was like that as a kid, but I am not like that anymore...I have conciderably less confidance in my intellect than I did when I was younger, when at one point, i had an exaggerated opinion of it.

I think I can relate to you

I'd rather be called smart than a liar or mentally ret*d any time. I was never a little professor to anyone.

Spelling? I went from being an awesome A+ speller from 1st until 4th grade to a D-E speller in 5th grade. For no particular reason. I just forgot how to spell most words. I don't mind people who can't spell for their lives. As long as it's readable and not an attempt at a novel, why care for the spelling?

I had a friend once who was such a horrid speller that it was hard to understand his messages. He misspelled each word he wrote. He was probably dyslexic. Never asked.



It's really nasty to boost your way up the social hierarchy that way. By making other people laugh about someone. If you spontaneously feel like correcting - okay. Go ahead. However.

By the time you finished the first sentence your brain had enough time to catch on what your mouth was saying. Now, if you want to prevent this form repeating itself: make sure you think about what you're going to do before you actually do it next time.

Just remember it's never fun if you 'make fun' of someone. As good as it feels if everyone's laughing. It's just not right.

I have the misfortune of being raised by an English teacher (grandmother) and an English teacher's daughter (my mom - a suspected Aspie) ... I'm notorious for correcting people's grammar.

I once had a college professor ask me, "You always have to be right, don't you?"

I used to think I was a know it all,but the funny thing is the more I
learned the more I realised how little I knew !

I read somewhere that Knowledge doesn't guarantee Wisdom and
Information can't replace Experience.

I relate to this all too well. It is perhaps one of the main reasons I never made many friends. My former friend especially hated me when I'd mention facts that contradicted what he thought was true. He'd interpret this as me looking for an arguement, when that wasn't true.

Perhaps the best policy is to simply avoid other people. I'm learning more and more just how well it works. It may not work for you however, and in high school when I did this, it merely brought more of them my way because they saw me as 'interesting' and others found me as an easy target for bullying. Be careful, because it can backfire.

Would you rather be 'right' or would you rather be 'liked'? It's up to you.

I don't know. At first, I want to be liked. But I'm so used to not being liked, so I'd rather be right.