On Grammar

I’m not a grammar Nazi.  That’s being a bit harsh.  I’m a grammar conservative with  a slightly authoritarian bent, I’m a grammar pain  in the butt, a grammar noodge.  Not really  a Nazi, though.  I’m not likely  to unfriend anybody just over grammar mistakes, unless they’re an asshole about it and I also disagree  with their political opinions, and if  those  two things are true  I might unfriend them anyway, even  if their grammar and spelling are impeccable.
Also, I realized early in my internet experience that correcting every grammar or spelling error on Facebook would  be  a never ending and, ultimately, unpleasant task, and I generally  avoid unpleasant tasks, especially those  I’m not getting paid for.

So, I  decided to become a specialist.  I correct people whenever they spell lose  with two o’s, and I correct  people who write could of, would of, and should  of.

Your v. you’re, or their  v. they’re v. there might just be  a  typo, and I’ve slipped up occasionally  myself.  I might  sometimes make a joking comment if  somebody picks  the  wrong homonym. (yesterday I caught somebody writing ‘He was dressed  in black  from head  to tow’ and I couldn’t just let that  pass)

I think one reason for the spelling errors is that people don’t read  enough, and it shows that they know the word from having heard it and not from having seen it in print.  So, when somebody writes “You are a looser,” they are trying to transcribe “You are a loooooooser,” but they’re getting it wrong.  And with ‘could of,’ etc…, that  is pretty much  what  it sounds like.
It’s sort of a corollary to the  Dunning-Krueger theory.  People who don’t read, and therefore  have  bad grammar and spelling, don’t seem to be aware  that people  who  DO read, and have large vocabularies which they use correctly, can spot them as non-readers in a second.
Or else they just don’t care, which is  scarier.