Grammarmanners Part II

And a letter from a frequent correctee--

What a joy it was to read your proclamation that it is rude and unkind to correct one's grammar and/or pronunciation of a word. Through life I have, as graciously as possible, accepted what seems like continuous correction of my pronunciation of words. My question: How can I "politely" correct someone for their rudeness when the act of correcting someone is, in itself, rude? Or so I was taught by my mother, aka Emily Post around home. When pushed to the brink I have said something like "Oh, my, that is how they pronounce it in Timbuktu" or whatever town was my recent home. As of late I have said "Well, I guess I'll never use THAT word again - I don't know how to pronounce it." Having been corrected in the use of the word "endocrinologist" numerous times by the medical profession itself I now refer to "doctors who treat glands". Clearly the meaning of the word is understood or they would not know the "correct" form so what's the point?. Interesting that when I look up these erroneous pronunciations I am, with only one exception, always using an accepted and usually a preferred pronunciation. So, do I go back to them and say "Ha, I was right"?

You can as far as I'm concerned, and if you'd like to start placing bets and getting your lunches and drinks paid for by folks who think they know how to pronounce words they in fact don't, that's okay by me, too.

Correcting pronunciation and grammar--assuming, of course, that the correction is itself correct!--are slightly different things. Like many upwardly mobile folk, I have read a whole lot more words than I heard spoken as a child, which means I sometimes mispronounce them. Mr. Improbable is very good about repeating a word, correctly, as soon as I've mispronounced it, in a way that doesn't interrupt what I'm saying. (My thanks to the ESL-speaking ex-girlfriend who taught him how to do this! And of course, Mr. Improbable knows me and knows that I want the correction. He wouldn't do this to a stranger or casual acquaintance.) It's generally impossible to correct someone's grammar so quickly, as a grammatical error will involve more than one word and a bit of logic to be explained.