Are you a grammar Nazi?
Are you often accused of being a grammar Nazi? A recent study by linguists Julie E. Boland and Robin Queen, If You’re House Is Still Available, Send Me an Email: Personality Influences Reactions to Written Errors in Email Messages, suggests maybe it’s not your fault: your personality might be to blame.
Boland and Queen measured the reactions of 83 American men and women of various backgrounds and ages to spelling and grammatical errors, which they distinguish as “typos” (simple typing slips, such as “teh” or “abuot”) and “grammos” (grammatical errors such as using “to” versus “too,” or “its” versus “it’s”). They characterize grammar Nazis—or “peevers,” as they call them—as those who are bothered by typos and grammos and therefore more likely to negatively judge someone based on them.
The 83 study participants filled out questionnaires about their personalities based on the “Big Five” personality traits: extraversion, agreeability, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness. Next, they read emails responding to housemate ads. The emails contained essentially the same content, but had been altered so that some were error-free, and some contained either grammos or typos. The participants then rated the writers of the emails as potential housemates.
Those participants who gave low ratings to the writers of the emails containing grammos or typos were deemed sensitive to them, as it was theorized that they negatively judged the writers based on their use of these errors. Shockingly, neuroticism had no correlation with the participants’ sensitivity to such errors. However, those participants who were less agreeable were more likely to be bothered by grammos. Less open participants, as well as more conscientious participants, were more sensitive to typos.
But the big takeaway from the study is that the introverted participants were more likely to be bothered by both grammos and typos. In other words, introverts are more likely to be grammar Nazis.
Queen and Boland theorize that this might be due to introverts being less tolerable of variability. Extroverts, on the other hand, tend to react more positively to variability. Because grammos and typos are essentially deviations from the norm, it follows that introverts would be particularly bothered by them.
As an editor, it is my job to be sensitive to grammatical and spelling errors. But I must admit I am often bothered by them outside of work, too. I of course come across these errors most often on social media. And, yes, I will admit it—I sometimes find myself rolling my eyes and thinking negatively of people who include such errors in their posts. As it turns out, I also consider myself—and I would say most people consider me—not especially agreeable or open, quite conscientious, and very introverted. (I am also rather neurotic, but according to the study, that is incidental.) So I fit squarely within the findings of Queen and Boland’s study.
I’ve never thought that being an introvert might have something to do with my aversion to typos and grammatical errors—I always figured it was because I’m neurotic. And I’ve never thought about my introversion in terms of being sensitive to variability. But it’s true, I am a creature of habit and routine. And deviations from my norm never sit well with me. I am extremely irritated by things like messes, disorganized rooms, and crooked photos on walls. I’ve never considered that the reason I so dislike those things is that they can be viewed as not conforming to what I consider normal: neatness and order. So it shouldn’t be surprising, then, that when I come across grammatical errors and typos, I view them as a disorganized mess that needs to be cleaned up—and, I’m sorry to say, that I sometimes can’t help but secretly view the people who created that mess as, well, slobs. But don’t blame me, it’s my personality!
Mary Bruzzese is the Editorial Project Manager at EEI Communications. To read more about Mary, click here.
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