Grammar Nazis

In this day and age of text speak, where parents are forced to  scour the internet to keep up with their children’s ever expanding vocabulary of abbreviations, an interesting phenomenon has arisen.

Just as it seemed that this new vernacular   would inevitably take over the world with its lols and brbs, a legion of disgruntled perfectionists began battling for traditional language from their bedrooms.  Meet the self described “Grammar Nazis”…

Social news websites such as Digg and Reddit are full of these types, ready to pounce if you confuse their and they’re or who and whom.  A special place in hell is reserved for those guilty of the original sin: using your when you’re is the correct term.

Facebook also has many groups devoted to the cause with varying degrees of militancy.   Some are very popular: I judge you when you use poor grammar has 440, 790 fans at the time of writing while Good Grammar Is Hot has 119, 492.  Both pages have expanded into merchandise as well with books and t-shirts  now available for sale.  Though the average age of the grammar nazi is unknown, their proliferation in the social media arena suggests that they are the peers of their more diminutive enemies, sitting in the bushes of the world wide web  waiting for the opportunity to pwn a noob.

The phenomenon has now inevitably reached full circle as wannabe grammar nazis fall prey to mistakes of their own making.  The schadenfreude enjoyed by these uberfuhrers in pointing out the errors made by underinformed junior grammar nazis is so potent as to be palatable.   Where this road leads is anyone’s guess…