This will be the last comment I make on this. I tried to leave it alone, but obviously my post rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.
I will apologize for the unintelligent comment - because that's not even really true. My dad is one of the smartest people I know, and he can't spell his way out of a paper bag. I don't think all people with bad grammar are unintelligent - only the people who have bad grammar AND no point. But it was still rude, and I apologize for saying it.
If you are a teacher, I think you should have good grammar. Period. I'm sorry that bothers people, but it's how I feel. And yes, even if you're not teaching English, I still feel that way. Grammar, sentence structure, spelling, all of it make up how we convey our thoughts to others. If you are a teacher, you need to be able to do that - and I don't agree that it's ok to say "But I'm teaching math!" because your students still see your writing. You are showing them that it's not important, when in fact it is. So, I'm standing my ground on the teacher thing - but truthfully, I blame the school system that hires the teacher, more than the teacher. I know being a teacher is a thankless, difficult job, but I still hold them to higher standards than most.
As for social media: first off, I'm not here to help someone with their grammar. Quite frankly, if I corrected it nicely, the reaction would have been the same - that grammar is insignificant and doesn't matter. It still would have been seen as elitist.
I never understand why people say they only have bad grammar on social media - you either know how to put a sentence together, or you don't. It's not as though social media suddenly makes you forget how to write. So, I highly doubt someone who writes on here in complete run-on, not-punctuated-correctly, misspelled, verb disagreement everywhere, improper-word-usage filled sentences suddenly goes to work and is doing Pullitzer prize winning writing.
Maybe some of you are better decipherers than I am, but I most certainly do come across posts that I have no earthly idea what they are trying to say. No, I'm not going to read your post 3 times to figure it out. If it's gibberish, I'm moving on. And if it gets to where the majority of your posts are like that, I'll just skip over them automatically. So, rather than saying I think someone is unintelligent, I'll reword to "I assume you have no point because I cannot understand what you are saying."
Lastly, when I finally crack and say something, it is always to someone who is being argumentative for no reason other than to be argumentative. I see all kinds of awful grammar on here and every other social media sites that I never comment on, or really even care about. It's when it is so repetitive, and from someone who is being overbearing and "know it all-ish" that I finally give up and say, "Since you already know everything about everything, can you work on knowing grammar?"
I'm sorry y'all think I'm so elitist and mean, but really... I hesitated to open these floodgates, but here goes. It's obvious (to me at least, and probably a handful of others) that the ruffled feathers here have NOTHING to do with the grammar conversation, and everything to do with previous feelings. It's very clear that the "lines in the sand" were drawn weeks ago, and those that took sides are sticking to them. (the "sides" are easy to figure out, based on who shimmies who in every single thread - and that applies to both sides.)
