1 post tagged “petpeeve”

My paramount social grievance as of late is when people preface their arguments with self-aggrandizing qualifications in order to elevate their perceived authority. This formulaic approach can be manifested by the logic, "As somebody who [is an expert at X], I [think Y]."

For example (via Google):

• "As somebody who loves language, I am sincerely grateful to him for reintroducing that marvellous [sic] word into common usage."
• "As somebody who loves baseball, I wish we could put this issue to bed once and for all: Pete Rose should never, ever, ever be allowed into the Hall Of Fame."
• "As somebody who enjoys writing, I found Upadhyay's comments illuminating and encouraging."
• "As somebody who enjoys watching politics, I’d rather see a more interesting race."
• "As somebody who hates shaving with a vengeance, I can sort of understand why some people have beards."

I'm not quite sure why this has dominated my awareness recently. And I'm not entirely confident I've never done it, myself. Perhaps it's just a matter of repetition in the content I've been reading that's driving nails through my eyeballs. But the force and immediacy with which it inspires my fists of rage has been rather interesting to experience. It has outweighed my other grammar-nazi pet peeves (e.g. "begs the question," "alot," "your") with a velocity none have enjoyed before.