Is this because I'm an aspie? - Grammar, spelling, punctuat

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Dear all,


I am rather fastidious about grammar, spelling and punctuation. I am not perfect, far from it (I do believe I use too many commas, but was never able to learn the finer rules), but I am very annoyed reading internet posts and e-mails with conspicuous errors. I think wrong and careless punctuation makes reading particularly painful for me.

Note that deliberate misspelling for humorous purposes does NOT bother me the least, and in fact, I enjoy it. E.g. the "Hillbilly/English Dickshunairy"

Is it a quirk specific to me, or is it somewhat common with aspies?

I am the same way-
before I was diagnosed
I chalked it up to the fact that my mother's an elementary school teacher,
so maybe precision when it comes to spelling and such "rubbed off" on me.

But most people don't have to leap up and find a red pen when they find a misspelling or grammar mistake in a book.



It's not just in written communication, though-
poor grammar in the spoken word gets to me as well:
ebonics, poor subject-verb agreement, "should of" in place of "should HAVE"
all drive me bonkers.

I'm the same way, but I know plenty of neurotypical people that are just as annoyed with improper spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

So, I wouldn't say it a trait specific to Aspies.

I have no idea if it is related to AS or not but I am extremely left handed - to the ponit that my right hand types slower than my left. In my typing you will constantly see misspellings - usually one letter transposed with the one next to it, missed spaces, etc... For some odd reason, while typing I frequently forget to type in contractions which obviously completely changes the intent of what I'm trying to say.

That said - I can be a grammar/spelling nazi at times. I've learned to keep my mouth shut about it but if someone knows they spell so badly that their words are barely legible, they should, at least, use a spell check before sending a message. I know its a double standard and recognizing it I try hard to supress it - but keeping my prejudice from the rest of the world hasn't lessened the personal frustration factor I have with it.

Heh heh.

I was at my marshal arts class today and the Master spelled "feint" f-i-e-n-t. It was REALLY hard not to say something. But I learned long ago you don't needlessly correct an authority figure. Especially one that can kick your ass.

My classmates think I'm a snob for it =P I can't help it - me and some of my friends joke about it because we're so sensitive about grammar. It's not very unusual, but it does make you a bit of an eccentric It's a good trait, though. But it really is hard to keep quiet about those awful, glaring mistakes right? XD I'm not a grammar god, but I think my mistakes are usually some technical thing that I haven't heard about yet. Or just normal typos~
My grammar is kind of instinctive. I wouldn't know how to explain sentence structure or syntax-related things. I learned grammar and spelling from books ^_^

Very wise of you grasshopper!

You sound like me! I've even worked as a proofreader.

i r undarstawnd wat u meen... srsly lik ppl dew nawt yewse korekt spewlin + grawmar an, it me anoie much

If I read something like that on the internet, I don't even bother reading the rest. I understand that not everyone's first language is English, but it annoys me so much.

Yeah, those "classics" just kill me: "their" instead of "there", "here" instead of "hear" (I don't even remember seeing "hear, hear!" written correctly even once) create a lot of resentment in me. A quite personal, almost visceral resentment, in which I am tempted to to write off the perpetrators as imbeciles.

Would that be "martial arts", perchance?
Martial arts.

it's common amongst aspies, but not in any way exclusive and not really indicative of autism.

"as*hole" or "snob" are what people likely think of upon having their grammar corrected, not "aspie".

haha

Snob isn't far off the mark.

Standardized spelling is a recent invention.

Standardized grammar simply means the grammar of the dialect with the most power and clout. All other dialects are not "inferior" or "bad grammar". They each have their own grammar that makes sense. And even within each dialect there is much personal variation and that is okay. People forget that English is a living language full of variation and growing and changing with each user of that language. The remark about "Ebonics" as bad grammar was particularly telling because that particular set of dialects some people call Ebonics has been studied extensively and contains its own consistent grammatical structure combining English usages with usages taken from various African languages. It's not "bad English" any more than standard English, with its collection of influences, is. All it would take is a different set of people with power and you guys would be arguing that what we now call standard English is inexcusably terrible grammar while what we now call some dialect other than that is perfect grammar.

And all this is besides the fact that standard English has been artificially altered to be what it is, by the grammar snobs of previous generations. There have been alterations to our grammar by people who wanted to force Latin grammatical structures on English. Not to mention the demonization of the word ain't. And lots more. Some of these decisions were made as a means of making class divisions clearer, making "lower class" people into people with "bad grammar" by enhancing the differences in dialect and creating rules where no rules previously existed.

So yes, intentional or not, being obsessed with "proper grammar" (and especially while condemning those with nonstandard (non-powerful) dialects as having bad grammar) has a snobbish element to it. Besides what it does to speakers of other dialects, it's unfair to people with dyslexia and other learning disabilities as well as many autistic people who have language issues. (I am decent at standard grammar usually when I'm writing anyway, but get me at a bad moment and much of that will go out the window.)

And I haven't even gotten into the differences in standard English between different countries.

I do understand how this all fits in with autism and have sometimes fallen into it myself, but still, people would not have this obsession if it weren't for the unfair power dynamics I've described existing.

Spot on anbuend, I'm a northerner living in southern England so get picked up on my speech occasionally. The thing is I don't use any northern dialect anymore but the locals use realy bad grammar and they are the ones who try to correct me . I do find it impossible to use text-speak when texting though.

On WP, there are numerous threads on grammar; why do people feel the need to initiate new ones? The old ones sank for a reason.