THANK HEAVEN FOR GRAMMATICAL ERRORS

 

Every language has its own native mistakes—errors foreigners rarely make—which reveal a speaker’s social and cultural standing. These mistakes serve as useful clues, helping us judge whether someone belongs to our circle or not. In this sense, we should be grateful for them.

Editors, constantly exposed to poor writing, are in a privileged position. Awkward sentences, faulty grammar, and ill-formed expressions not only betray weak education but also make it easy to dismiss a piece. One might even argue that institutions failing to teach proper language deserve to be held accountable.

Common errors abound—misused pronouns, redundant expressions, incorrect agreements, and illogical constructions. Such mistakes should never appear in serious writing.

And yet, these very errors are oddly comforting. They allow us to feel competent, even superior. Spotting “everybody in the room were drunk” can bring a quiet satisfaction: we know better. In a way, other people’s mistakes boost our confidence and affirm our belonging to the educated few.

Editors, surrounded by such blunders, can even take pleasure in them—sharing, criticizing, and lamenting the decline of standards. Indeed, grammatical errors, large or small, lighten our burden and flatter our sense of cultural authority.

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