Why I stopped caring about other people's grammar

I used to be a proud member of the grammar police.

I thrived in the role.

I’d tut at misplaced apostrophes, roll my eyes when someone capitalised spring, summer, autumn or winter and groan at “every day” being used as one word when it should be two. I’d tell shop owners their signs were wrong, judge people who wrote “your” instead of “you’re” and generally quite enjoy spotting mistakes and correcting them.

Maybe you’re the same.

Or maybe you’ve been on the receiving end of a grammar police attack and not really enjoyed it.

I’ve been there too. When a typo was made in a tweet I sent in a rush, someone responded to point out my error. I’ve published mistakes in my articles that slipped through the proofread and received emails of complaint.

But here’s the thing. Whenever a genuine mistake or a grammar rule I didn’t know (of which there are many) was pointed out to me, I never thought well of the messenger.

I know they were just trying to help. But there’s something low energy about it. Something about the superiority of pointing out mistakes on someone’s work that just didn’t sit right.

I don’t want to have that effect on other people, so I stopped caring about their grammar. Here’s why you might want to join me.