Jul 6, 2013
Writing Wisdom: Marcus Aurelius on Pedantry
It's awfully common on the internet to try to score points in a forum or social media conversation by pointing out grammatical errors or equally insignificant mistakes, especially when you want to discredit or humiliate your opponent. I liked Marcus Aurelius' approach to this:
"[I have learned not] reproachfully to reprehend any man for a barbarism, or a solecism, or any false pronunciation, but dextrously by way of answer, or testimony, or confirmation of the same matter (taking no notice of the word) to utter it as it should have been spoken; or by some other such close and indirect admonition, handsomely and civilly to tell him of it." Meditations, Book I., VII