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View submission: A Guide to Reddit Lingo
- Redditors are pedantic (when it suits them).
By now you will have realised that Reddit is full of pedantry. Yes, the Grammar Police are coming for you, and when they get here they're going to obliterate you. Unless you bring them first, which is another point of this page because here, you will learn how to spot some common Reddit pedantry and even make it work in your favour.
Almost anything in this whole encyclopaedia can be used to throw a conversation off course, especially when a Redditor just wants to obscure a valid point because they don’t have a valid counter argument. So, below are a few examples to watch out for or even employ yourself if you’re feeling confident enough to take on - or even join the ranks of the Reddit Grammar Police[1].
1: https://tenor.com/view/batman-grammar-gif-10470328
- Spelling
Do proofread your submissions. Reddit is actually quite tolerant of a couple of typos or a few grammar or punctuation mistakes, but will also jump on one with glee if they find one in a serious case you may be putting forward in order to invalidate your argument and/or derail the discussion; another thing that Reddit is very good at.
It’s fine to ironically misspell a word for comedic effect, so long as it is obviously done that way. If you see an image with a spelling mistake on, it’s The Reddit Way to point it out. Preferred formats for this are commenting the misspelled word as S P E L I N G or even “sPeLiNg”. But in normal Reddit usage, a simple misspelling can sometimes have consequences. Let me demonstrate.
Make sure not to misspell anything.
I may not have misspelled anything in that statement but I have made my first grammatical error, as it would be more concise to say "Do not mispell." Words are the only things that can be mispelled so the word "anything" in that sentence is superfluous, and in fact, a pleonasm: a word which adds nothing extra to a sentence.
A pleonasm should not be confused with a tautology; that’s a word which merely repeats the meaning of another word in an expression. These are both, however, cases of redundant words which can be omitted from sentences (the words “from sentences” being another pleonasm as I hope you spotted).
My second error (or my first, should we look at my statement in chronological order) was in saying "Make sure not to", as it is wordy, uncertain, and less comprehensible to Reddit's many fine ESL (English as a Second Language) users or our Redditors without vision who rely on using screen-reading software for their Reddit experience.
Still with me through that combo move using Increasingly Verbose / NYTO / Comment Chain? Wow. Congratulations! Here’s my poor man’s gold.🥇Yes, Copypasta too.
The best part? I didn’t even spell anything wrong in that statement, but by now the comments will be so wildly entrenched in proving or disproving your subsequent points it simply doesn’t matter anymore. “Less comprehensible” than what, by the way? That’s another grammar slip-up lost in the morass.
- Grammar Traps
There are many Grammar Traps[2] waiting out there for the unwary Redditor to fall into, and there will invariably be a Grammar Nazi[3] ready to catch them. Things that are guaranteed to get you in trouble are misusing:
2: https://www.agriculture.purdue.edu/agcomm/ontarget/grammartrap/index.html
So, because every day’s a school day[4], here’s some handy mnemonics to help you get these right:
4: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=every%20day%27s%20a%20school%20day
“Less dough, fewer rolls” isn’t a spelling or punctuation mistake, of course; rather a mistaken identity, which brings me neatly on to:
- Misconceptions #1: Literal meanings vs. Modern usage
Other things that will trigger the hordes of pedants to smother you with their linguistic smugness are using the words:
If you really really want to wind Reddit users up by either making or correcting a misconception, Wikipedia has usefully provided you with a treasure trove on their page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions[5].
5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions
Of course, languages evolve over time, and this is known as semantic change, semantic shift, semantic progression, or semantic development[6]. There is a very good argument to be made that the first two of those three examples are increasingly becoming Janus Words[7] and the mention of this in itself should be enough for you to get out the popcorn and wait for Reddit’s Fine Linguists to show up in droves.
6: https://www.thoughtco.com/how-the-meanings-of-words-change-1692666
7: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/words-own-opposites
- Misconceptions #2: American English vs. “The Queen’s English”
Another fun grammar issue increasingly seen on Reddit is people correcting someone saying they "Could care less". "Could care less" and "Couldn't care less" mean the same thing in modern American English and that misconception is so popular it's now a banned topic on r/badlinguistics along with “literally”.
There’s an increasingly popular belief[8] that American English is closer to 1600s and 1700s English[9] than modern British English is, and comparisons between the two are almost guaranteed to provoke a spirited discussion[10].
- Punctuation
The most common Apostrophe Trap concerns “it’s” and “its”. Again, handy mnemonics to stop you falling in are:
This falls under the Apostrophe Rules for Possessives and Contractions[11]:
11: https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/punctuation/apostrophe-rules.html
1. Use an apostrophe +"s" ('s) to show that one person/thing owns or is a member of something.
2. Use an apostrophe after the "s" (s') at the end of a plural noun to show possession.
3. If a plural noun doesn't end in "s," add an apostrophe + "s" to create the possessive form.
Finally, let’s not address the ‘Oxford Comma’ just yet[12]. Because sometimes, Reddit loves the Oxford Comma[13] and sometimes, Reddit hates the Oxford Comma[14].
14: https://www.reddit.com/r/unpopularopinion/comments/agvjsb/the_oxford_comma_shouldnt_be_used/
There will be more traps to fall into. There will always be more. Have fun finding this out. If it’s you that made the grammatical error and are getting called out, don’t try and act smart or you’ll find yourself a candidate for r/woooosh or r/iamverysmart. Instead, just take it with good humour and move on. Back-pedalling will not end well. Sometimes interwebs people are mean spirited.
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