[349/365] well THIS probably made my heart rate go up!

[cosmolinguist]

I haven't read the paper that this article is based on, so I'm sure I'm missing something, but my immediate thought upon reading that researchers "discovered a direct correlation between instances of bad grammar and subjects’ Heart Rate Variability (HRV)" was that this is less about how "our bodies go into stress-mode when hearing misused grammar" and more about our bodies going into stress-mode when we encounter a norm being breached.

Especially with the way most of us associate grammar with school, and thus our early years and related traumas.

Also, grammar snobs tend to be seeking comfort in the Single Correct Way to do things, and there are a number of reasons for that (insecurity, lack of control in other aspects of their lives, using language as a proxy for their bigotry because they really don't like non-white/young/multilingual/female speakers of English).

What is it we're really reacting to when we react to "bad grammar"? It's social constructs we've been taught, and I'm sure all kinds of those have physiological effects on us.

Comments

[ewt]

I think some of it for me personally is that I get stressed out when I feel I can't trust someone else to communicate clearly, and grammatical "errors" or differences put me on alert for that. I've been in enough situations with ambiguous instructions where I was punished for seeking clarity or for picking the wrong interpretation that I would really like it a lot if everyone would just follow the same rules so I didn't have to take those risks.

I try to remind myself that if the intended meaning is clear to me, then the person is in fact communicating clearly, even if by less conventional means. I also try to remind myself that in most cases I'm not going to be penalised for asking for clarification if it is needed.

My discomfort around potential lack of clarity doesn't mean there is anything wrong with someone else's grammatical patterns. It helps, and it beats turning into a prescriptivist about it, but the discomfort is still there.

[silveradept]

That's a good question. I'd think that the adverse reaction to "bad grammar" would be in relation to worries about being properly understood, but you're entirely correct about the use of language as a proxy for other bigotries (especially around the use of dialects, or accents, or the whole complex that happens with AAVE and other such things come out.)