A recent survey tests Americans on our grammar, as well as our fascist tendencies:
Research conducted by YouGov in October shows that, when asked, 21% of Americans consider themselves to be what is colloquially known as a ‘grammar Nazi’, that is someone who habitually corrects or criticizes the language usage of others.
Younger Americans, especially under-30s (26%) are more likely than older American to admit to being grammar Nazis. Only 16% of over-65s say that they habitually correct and criticize the language usage of others. 70% deny being a grammar Nazi, while 9% are on the fence.
This finding is appropriate, as younger Americans were often better than older Americans at accurately identifying the correct grammatical form of particular sentences. When asked about the correct use of ‘it’s’ and ‘its’, 61% of Americans rightly identified the sentence ‘my oak tree loses its leaves in autumn’ as being correct, while 31% said that ‘my oak tree loses it’s leaves in autumn’ was correct, wrongly using the contraction of ‘it is’. 70% of under-30s identified the correct sentence, compared to 56% of over-65s.
Update from a reader:
Well, that’s just a poor survey design. There’s an immediate bias there: older Americans (especially the 70+, I imagine) are going to be less likely to ever identify themselves as any sort of Nazi, even if it’s a relatively benign term like Grammar Nazi.
As this reader attests:
I’m in the 45-64, and I will happily admit to being a habitual correcter of other people’s grammar, but I would answer “no” to that survey because I’d never call myself any sort of “Nazi“. You can call me a grammar pedant, a grammar nag, or a grammar obsessive, but “Nazi“? No thanks.
The Dish 