Hangin’s too good fer ’em.

Linguistic prescriptivists. They’re a clever bunch of swine, aren’t they? At least they think so. It’s not easy to correct people’s usage while looking down your nose at them and patting yourself on the back at the same time. It takes talent and coordination. Oh, sorry: ‘coördination’.

We have a joke about them.

I was walking across campus with a friend and we came upon half a dozen theoretical linguists committing unprovoked physical assault on a defenseless prescriptivist. My friend was shocked. She said: “Aren’t you going to help?”

I said, “No; six should be enough.”

All in fun, but these irritating self-satisfied vermin don’t just waste your time on the Net. Sometimes they’re capable of damage.

Two obsessive grammarians who changed a historical handpainted sign at the Grand Canyon national park have been sentenced to probation for vandalism.
…
Using a marker, [one of them] replaced an erroneous apostrophe and added a comma to the yellow lettering on a black fibreboard sign.

However, the pair did not realise the sign had been made by Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter, the architect who built the watchtower and other landmarks in the Grand Canyon area.

They pleaded guilty to conspiracy to vandalise government property and were sentenced to a year’s probation during which they cannot enter a national park or change any public signs.

They were also told to pay £1,500 to repair the sign.

One of the things I try to beat into my first year linguistics students is that language is always changing, and this is neither good nor bad. The language we think of as ‘correct’ has been going through this same process, and would horrify earlier speakers of English.

But in private moments, I consider shenanigans such as we see from these two nincompoops as a sign of a pathological superiority complex and/or an age over 60.