language snobbery
Grammar pedantry pride
Language snobbery is looking down on others for how they speak or write—their grammar, vocabulary, accent, or dialect.
The snob treats certain usages as markers of intelligence or class, correcting others or dismissing their speech as inferior: His language snobbery made everyone at the table afraid to open their mouths.
The attitude often mistakes social convention for linguistic correctness.
- elitismPreference for privileged rule
- pretentiousFalsely grand or important
- pedanticExcessively concerned with minor rules
- grammarLanguage's structural rules
- split infinitiveAdverb bisecting an infinitive
condescending · talking down · correctness · accent · dialect · common speech · posh · upper class · highbrow · pronunciation · vocabulary · superior · judgmental · prescriptivist · proper English · Queen's English · refined · cultured
language, snobbery, languages, linguistic, linguistics, linguist, lingual, bilingual, multilingual