Insufferable snobbery

A little while ago someone called me an “insufferable know-it-all”. I couldn’t dispute that… it’s true. In fact I quite like the sound of it.

But then yesterday someone else called me an “intellectual snob”. Now I’m starting to think that I’m getting a bit of a bad rap, so I’d like to try and set the record straight.

I’m well aware that I have an annoying habit of correcting people all the time. I often get complaints, and I try to keep a handle on it when it’s not appropriate, but sometimes it just gets away from me.

Not everyone takes offense though. And I suspect that to a large extent, people who do take offense misunderstand my motivation for doing it.

In my life I strive for accuracy. When I make an error, I do my best to learn from it so that I don’t repeat it. Problem is I’m not in a position to be able to detect every error I make. So when other people spot me making a mistake, I hope they’ll tell me about it. I appreciate it when they do that, and because I appreciate it, I automatically return the favour.

I suspect a lot of people think that when I point out an error I’m trying to show off how clever I am, that I know more than they do. I can understand why they might think that, but it’s simply not the case. I’m just trying to help.

Perhaps the issue here lies in the way I do it. I try to be as congenial and discreet about it as possible, but perhaps that’s the wrong approach.

Here we have another situation where I can’t detect my own error… I would greatly appreciate some assistance in this regard.