A typo Nazi? You’re not just OC, or a grammar freak — you’re just probably a jerk, according to a study!
Of course, there’s an actual difference between an actual grammar nazi — one who scrutinizes incorrect grammar and syntax– and one who criticizes something that is clearly mistyped or a typo, and is not indicative of their spelling abilities.
But if you’ve followed comment wars on social media long enough, you see these types of netizens who would bash a commenter and nitpick them solely on their typo error — something most likely done out of haste while typing out on a touchscreen QWERTY keyboard, for example.
A study from the University of Michigan studied 83 participants, who were asked to read email responses to an ad for a housemate, some responses deliberately including typos with letters jumbled, as well as errors that were more grammatical (interchanging “it’s” and “its”, for example). Gathering data on the participants’ personality, they also had subjects rate the “perceived intelligence, friendliness, and other attributes” of the emails’ authors.
The result?
Extroverts were more likely to overlook these errors.
Those classified as “conscientious” and “less open” weren’t fans of typos. Those who were “less agreeable” noticed and took issue with those relating to usage.
So before you go ahead and make fun of someone’s typo errors, think about what that also reveals about you.
Are you a grammar or typo freak? Let us know your thoughts!
