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Grammar sticklers may have OCD
The Web of Language Blog ^ | Sun, 24 Jun 2012 | By Dennis Baron

Posted on 07/28/2012 8:48:38 PM PDT by garjog

t used to be we thought that people who went around correcting other people’s grammar were just plain annoying. Now there’s evidence they are actually ill, suffering from a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder/oppositional defiant disorder (OCD/ODD). Researchers are calling it Grammatical Pedantry Syndrome, or GPS.

Maybe you’ve heard of the grammar gene—its technical name is the FOXP2 gene—which may be responsible for a variety of grammatical ills, such as the inability to construct compound/complex sentences or to effectively deploy the passive voice. Now there’s evidence that a variant of that gene, FOXP2.1, may actually cause us to obsessively correct other people’s grammar, or should that be, to correct their grammar obsessively? The discovery of this gene, alongside new evidence from fMRI scans of brains exposed to real-time grammatical errors, has led some scientists to predict that soon we may be able to find a cure for GPS, for many sufferers a debilitating, off-putting, sociopathic syndrome.

(Excerpt) Read more at illinois.edu ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: disorders; editing; grammar; language; ocd; spelling
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To: Nik Naym
Insure and ensure are the twins to effect and affect.

Being concious of grammer makes one suseptable to being the company "proofreader". But it beats having the company put out something that sound like it was written by a 6th grader....

41 posted on 07/28/2012 9:56:32 PM PDT by par4
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To: par4

Indeed, you wouldn’t want to sounds like that. ;)


42 posted on 07/28/2012 9:59:20 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: steve86
I routinely correct spelling errors on the fluoxetine prescriptions the doctor gives me. Also double and triple check the dosage.

Sounds like a good idea, given what the Wikipedia says:

Sexual dysfunction is a common side effect with SSRIs. Specifically, side effects often include difficulty becoming aroused, erectile dysfunction, lack of interest in sex, and anorgasmia (inability to achieve orgasm). Genital anesthesia,[10] loss of or decreased response to sexual stimuli, and ejaculatory anhedonia are also possible. Although usually reversible, these sexual side effects can last for months, years, or permanence after the drug has been completely withdrawn.[11][YIPES!] This is known as Post SSRI Sexual Dysfunction.

Of course, you could just turn off your spam filter, and remedies would flood your inbox.

43 posted on 07/28/2012 9:59:52 PM PDT by cynwoody
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To: garjog

Frankly, I could care less is my advise!


44 posted on 07/28/2012 10:03:44 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong!)
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To: garjog

I suffer from Grammatical Pedantry Syndrome (GPS). I object to the use of ‘there” to mean “their” or “they’re,” and I refuse to use words such as “prequel” (the correct term is “antecedent” or “precursor”).


45 posted on 07/28/2012 10:05:06 PM PDT by Fiji Hill (Deo Vindice!)
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To: Revolting cat!

> What is the name of the illness suffered by people who
> invent acronyms?

AD or Acron’s Disease.


46 posted on 07/28/2012 10:06:10 PM PDT by Jyotishi (Seeking the truth, a fact at a time.)
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To: Fiji Hill

What about proactive in place of... GASP! anticipatory?


47 posted on 07/28/2012 10:06:27 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong!)
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To: garjog
Very interesting article.

Reminds me of one particular obnoxious drunk who floats by on a daily basis
displaying an amazing amount of OCD/ODD on a very narrow range of topics.
Laughably predictable behavior to the point of being an almost sure bet.
The grammar tie in to OCD/ODD is like the cherry on the icing on the cake
concerning this person.

Interesting indeed.

48 posted on 07/28/2012 10:11:13 PM PDT by The Cajun (Sarah Palin, Mark Levin......Nuff said.)
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To: Fiji Hill

> . . . I refuse to use words such as “prequel” . . .

pre·quel [pree-kwuhl

noun

a literary, dramatic, or filmic work that prefigures a
later work, as by portraying the same characters at a
younger age.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/prequel


49 posted on 07/28/2012 10:12:11 PM PDT by Jyotishi (Seeking the truth, a fact at a time.)
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To: garjog

I used to know a gay bicyclist like that. I called him a pedaling pedantic pederast.


50 posted on 07/28/2012 10:13:24 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong!)
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To: All

Listening to Zappa play Apostrophe, I am reminded that the main component of our language is call and response.
It is the basic element in any language.
English is special because of all it’s nuances that allow us to convey philosophical data.
Math is a language that allows us to convey technical data.

Having said that, I believe most of us get the gist of a conversation even if the comma is misplaced.

When a decimal point is misplaced it is a huge error of exponential proportions but even then, most of us get the gist of it.


51 posted on 07/28/2012 10:14:19 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: Revolting cat!
Feed me, Seymore!

-PJ

52 posted on 07/28/2012 10:14:42 PM PDT by Political Junkie Too (It doesn't come naturally when you're not natural born.)
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To: POWERSBOOTHEFAN

> I’m shocked that some people don’t know the difference
> between ‘their’,’there’ and ‘they’re’.

And “thar” as is “Thar she blows!”


53 posted on 07/28/2012 10:17:53 PM PDT by Jyotishi (Seeking the truth, a fact at a time.)
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To: relictele

Teachers cannot teach what they, themselves, have never learned. Our teens and young adults are part of a lost generation. They can text and tweet but cannot legibly write a paragraph punctuated correctly containing complete words which are spelled correctly.


54 posted on 07/28/2012 10:20:24 PM PDT by Grams A (The Sun will rise in the East in the morning and God is still on his throne.)
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To: Jyotishi

Thar is a fine word!


55 posted on 07/28/2012 10:25:15 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: garjog

My pet peeve is the expression “pet peeve”!


56 posted on 07/28/2012 10:27:28 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong!)
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To: Jyotishi

BTW I don’t understand folks who object to “sangwich”

Its just an Italian American colloquialism.


57 posted on 07/28/2012 10:27:35 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: garjog

The book Punctuate it Right is always at my desk. As for correcting grammar,.the Brits have a solid case against us Yanks.


58 posted on 07/28/2012 10:30:15 PM PDT by gunsequalfreedom (Conservative is not a label of convenience. It is a guide to your actions.)
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To: gunsequalfreedom

Yeah right!
Dem cockney rejects got it awwright! LOL


59 posted on 07/28/2012 10:34:30 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: mylife

> BTW I don’t understand folks who object to “sangwich”

What are you in for?

Convicts from nearly any racial and ethnic background are
now commonly found using this particular word.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?defid=907380&term=Sangwich


60 posted on 07/28/2012 10:34:30 PM PDT by Jyotishi (Seeking the truth, a fact at a time.)
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