Weaponizing Grammar

I’ll link the post where I talk about why it’s classist, ableist, racist, and rude to correct grammar because I’m here to expand on that topic. I covered those points well enough, but I just had someone report a spelling error in my book and I’m here to talk about why you should either ignore those or contact the author directly, instead of reporting spelling errors in an ebook to Amazon. Doing that can close people’s accounts, and the ultimate problem is that no grammar rules are set in stone. Expecting grammar to stay rigid and inflexible is, quite frankly, nonsense. I mean, we’re not speaking middle or old English, and we don’t because language and grammar are fluid and constantly changing. The English spoken today isn’t what was spoken 100 years ago, after all.  

Beyond that, bigots will weaponize grammar rules when it comes to people they feel are “inferior.” I am aware that not everyone who does this is coming from a place of harm, but it doesn’t change the fact that not everyone speaks American Standard, and that correcting people who don’t use American Standard is weaponizing what is thought of as “proper” English. Weaponizing grammar in this way is at the very least a microaggresion. It’s not always a full-on aggression because people will mistakenly think they’re coming from a place of compassion or caring. That’s not true of everyone though. Plenty of people do it to feel superior because they think that the One True Dialect is American Standard and that people who use other dialects or speak English as a second or third language are somehow inferior. That’s when correcting grammar becomes weaponized. It becomes a tool of white supremacy because it’s frequently people of color and immigrants who use dialects other than American Standard.  

It becomes further weaponized in publishing, for a couple different reasons. White supremacy is definitely one of the reasons, but people will correct grammar and spelling in books to shut down other marginalized voices as well. No book is an island, and many of the self-published ones out there have had multiple sets of eyes on the manuscript. It’s part of life that spelling and grammar issues will bleed through to the finished document because that’s just how it goes. That doesn’t mean you can’t correct it. I know that I appreciate people who point these things out to me privately. The problem is when you report it in an ebook. Amazon at least has closed accounts for problems like these, and that’s one of the ways grammar can become weaponized. It’s much better to contact the author by email to let them know, as long as you’re respectful about it, because too many reports run the risk of the author’s account being closed. And people will report things that aren’t issues so much as style choices. That’s where the weaponization comes in. Even modern grammar rules and structure allow for poetic license because language is fluid. It’s constantly changing, and nothing about language or spelling or grammar is set in stone. That’s why stylistic choices are valid. They’re a contained evolution of language and should be respected as such.  

And that is the crux of the issue. In my own personal opinion, I appreciate people who reach out and let me know there is an issue as long as they aren’t rude or aggressive. I understand that there is a difference between a text exchange between friends and a published, public document. I have no problem fixing things that are genuinely a problem, I just want you to email me. I’d rather people do that because some of my works utilize stylistic choices that fall outside the current American Standard grammar ruleset. At least if you email me to point something out, it gives me a chance to either explain that it’s a stylistic choice or go through and fix it myself without risking my ability to publish on Amazon. But those stylistic choices that people sometimes take issue with could close an author’s account if there are too many reports that don’t get fixed. And it’s those things people will target when they’re weaponizing grammar rules to shut down marginalized authors.  

Ultimately, I’m not mad at whoever reported it, because there is a good chance they didn’t know Amazon will sometimes close accounts for this. I wrote this because it happened, and I realized that more people should know what goes on behind the scenes. It’s okay to email me to point something out or ask for clarification. The reason I addressed weaponization is because it’s a problem for some folks, and it’s something related that also needs addressing. Just because you report a spelling error doesn’t mean you’re a white supremacist. I’m just saying that it’s a tactic used sometimes by white supremacists so that more people are aware there is an issue to begin with. When these things go unsaid, bigotry flourishes, and can sometimes be perpetuated by well-meaning people who don’t know any better. I’m here to help to educate people so they know what to look out for. As a fellow member of society, we can only fix these problems by working together. And I hope that you know I don’t mean you any ill will. Because sometimes we don’t know something is a problem until someone else points it out. Societal programming is insidious when it comes to things like unconscious bias, but that doesn’t mean we have to accept it. We just need that one person to point out a problem so we can put the work in to deprogram ourselves. We owe it to both other people and ourselves to be our best, most authentic selves.