Do you correct people during normal conversations?

[MTM]

I was talking to a co-worker I don't see frequently about the World Series and he had some facts wrong about when the Dodgers moved to LA and Dodger Stadium, but I didn't correct him because it didn't matter for the conversation we were having.

But another time, I was talking to a guy at a party who was trying to be a know-it-all about the team and was mixing up years and facts and I corrected him after he tried saying I was wrong about a game I attended.

My wife will sometimes mix up facts in telling a story, such as combining events from two vacations into the same trip, but I will only correct her if it would clear confusion to the listener.

So, do you correct others during the course of a normal conversation or let it go?

 

[Vombatus]

I was talking to a co-worker I don't see frequently about the World Series and he had some facts wrong about when the Dodgers moved to LA and Dodger Stadium, but I didn't correct him because it didn't matter for the conversation we were having.

But another time, I was talking to a guy at a party who was trying to be a know-it-all about the team and was mixing up years and facts and I corrected him after he tried saying I was wrong about a game I attended.

My wife will sometimes mix up facts in telling a story, such as combining events from two vacations into the same trip, but I will only correct her if it would clear confusion to the listener.

So, do you correct others Shut the **** up, Donny! during the course of a normal conversation or let it go?

FTFY

And I would like to correct your thread title. It irritates me.

 

[CD Boogie]

I was talking to a co-worker I don't see frequently about the World Series and he had some facts wrong about when the Dodgers moved to LA and Dodger Stadium, but I didn't correct him because it didn't matter for the conversation we were having.

But another time, I was talking to a guy at a party who was trying to be a know-it-all about the team and was mixing up years and facts and I corrected him after he tried saying I was wrong about a game I attended.

My wife will sometimes mix up facts in telling a story, such as combining events from two vacations into the same trip, but I will only correct her if it would clear confusion to the listener.

So, do you correct others during the course of a normal conversation or let it go?

Depends on how much I like them. Also, you gotta read the room. Do others know they're in error? Does it make them look bad? If a loved one is making a mistake and it makes them look bad, I might politely correct them. For the most part, no. Ya can easily come off looking like a know it all. Still, there are few better joys in life than denuding some jagoff who has his facts mixed up.

 

[QYFW]

What's a normal conversation?

 

[User 11148]

Still, there are few better joys in life than denuding some jagoff who has his facts mixed up.

But enough about my brother-in-law ...

 

[jr/shotglass]

I correct written English, not spoken English ... but I am a son of a ***** when it comes to correcting written English.

Ah, one exception ... I enjoy telling my daughter's boyfriend he's full of **** when he's pontificating about something.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

As one gets older, more conversations are about the past. Trying to create an accurate picture often involves mutual corrections, as each person has a slightly different recollection of events. Some such conversations are like 90 percent corrections.

 

[MisterCreosote]

I find it prudent given the sheer volume of egregiously wrong information out there.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

I would never be able to hold a normal conversation if I spent the entire time correcting everyone.

 

[User 11148]

As one gets older, more conversations are about the past. Trying to create an accurate picture often involves mutual corrections, as each person has a slightly different recollection of events. Some such conversations are like 90 percent corrections.

This is not a trivial point ...

 

[ChrisLong]

I actually told a guy at a dinner party that I really enjoyed talking with him because he knows what he's talking about. I told him that most of the time, when guys find out I was a sportswriter, they always want to talk about sports and they don't know their ass. MTM, I don't usually correct them, unless it is imperative to the conversation. I just nod and say "OK."

 

[MTM]

I was talking to a co-worker I don't see frequently about the World Series and he had some facts wrong about when the Dodgers moved to LA and Dodger Stadium, but I didn't correct him because it didn't matter for the conversation we were having.

But another time, I was talking to a guy at a party who was trying to be a know-it-all about the team and was mixing up years and facts and I corrected him after he tried saying I was wrong about a game I attended.

My wife will sometimes mix up facts in telling a story, such as combining events from two vacations into the same trip, but I will only correct her if it would clear confusion to the listener.

So, do you correct others during the course of a normal conversation or let it go?

I forgot to mention the guy who saw me wearing a Dodgers tie yesterday who said he remembers the the last time the Dodgers won in 1988 with Garvey, Lopes, Russell and Cey. Since we were in the restroom at a courthouse and I didn't know if he was a defendant or a juror, I simply agreed instead of telling him none of them were still there in 88.

 

[qtlaw]

Uh that was Steve Sax, not Lopes buddy. And Mickey Hatcher, not the Penguin.

BTW, I rarely correct people because it usually comes off as you're a know-it-all.

 

[SpeedTchr]

I don't correct them, I just look at them with dead eyes and a slightly open mouth until they slowly turn away and walk off.

 

[Rhody31]

I've tried to get better about not correcting people when it doesn't matter.
Sometimes my wife's family says stuff that's just horribly incorrect and I'll casually jump in. My wife's cousin says this makes me "argumentative."

 

[da man]

I don't correct people. I just go home and scream into my pillow every night.

 

[Buck]

This conversation should be reframed:
How do you manage your belief that most people are but you are not?

 

[SpreadOffense7]

I used to do it but I don't now. Just not worth it. Don't want to be known as "that guy" lol

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

A woman sitting beside me at the theater twice said Woody Harrelson was playing Lyndon Bird Johnson in the new LBJ movie. I didn't know her and wasn't involved in the conversation, so I said nothing. Don't know if I would have corrected her if I knew her and was talking with her. She seemed like a dimwit so if I would probably be correcting her a lot if I knew her.

 

[SnarkShark]

I have experiences in this realm often.

My wife’s family is very successful in the business they run. This has led my in-laws and my brother-in-law—in my theory—to be somewhat overconfident when it comes to conversations about things they don’t know that well.

Most of the time I just keep it to myself when one of them goes off on a completely false set of facts, but sometimes I can’t take it.

Can’t tell you how many times they’ve dug their heels in, though, especially about the intricacies of sports or current events, which is kinda my specialty.

I usually try to stay calm and explain, but I’ve said something close to, “Just trust me. That’s not how it works” more times than I can count.