How's Godwin's law go? Wait I'll wiki it. "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.”
O.K., well, so maybe not totally applicable (since I’m not talking about anything online), but I still think “grammar Nazis” are aptly named.
They usually call late, when they think you’re not at your desk. They try to sneak a message onto your phone. Sometimes they e-mail you. You’ve seen them in discussion forums, of course – maybe, if you’re lucky, they’ve given you some unsolicited advice.
As reporters, we hear from them a lot more than you do. Trust me. They’re usually very old, you can tell, and polite enough that you probably shouldn’t call them Nazis to their faces. Probably.
