Active discussions
My feed Premium
Please or to access all these features

Pedants' corner

What do the regulars here do for a living?

46 replies

LostAllMySocks · 01/07/2024 21:27

Hi,

I wondered if I could ask what the regulars on Pedant's Corner do for a living?

I'm just wondering because my DS is an unstoppable force when it comes to nitpicking grammar, and I feel as though this must be a skill that someone wants.

In additon to nitpicking grammer, he also loves long dry texts, like the online copy of the Highway Code. He also really likes any rule-based systems. The larger and more complex they are, the happier he is. I think law is out because crime gives him the heebie jeebies.

I would be really glad to know which career paths are open to people who have this laser vison for typos and grammatical slips.

Thanks!

OP posts:
Report
ExitPursuedByABare · 01/07/2024 21:29

I was in marketing and PR. English degree

Report
LostAllMySocks · 01/07/2024 21:31

ExitPursuedByABare · 01/07/2024 21:29

I was in marketing and PR. English degree

Does that mean that you did a lot of writing and copy editing and that sort of thing?

OP posts:
Report
ExitPursuedByABare · 01/07/2024 22:08

Yep

Report
UpToMyElbowsInDiapers · 01/07/2024 22:09

could he do corporate law or similar though? Not all law practices revolve around crime!

Report
wutheringkites · 01/07/2024 22:11

There are other areas of law besides criminal law. Contract law may suit him.

Report
CeliaCanth · 01/07/2024 22:11

I’m a lawyer in a role which involves a lot of drafting.

Report
LostAllMySocks · 01/07/2024 22:19

Thanks, this is great!

Can you get a job in law without doing a general law degree? We looked at law degrees and they all seem to have a mandatory criminal law section in the first year.

Ds really reminds me of Sir Humphry Appleby, because he just loves to read these long documents and memorise the contents. He's read a massive 300 page instruction manual for a card game recently and is vicerally frustated because he can't find anyone who is a gripped by the nuanced detail as he is.

He tried explaining it to me but he has a great desire to go straight for the nitty-gritty detail without any preamble, so it's hard to keep up.

Today we saw a powerpoint slide where someone had kindly tried to give a simplified version of a complex piece of legal jargon. DS just couldn't let it go, because it was subtly wrong. In the end I had to delete it, so we could move on.

OP posts:
Report
AllProperTeaIsTheft · 01/07/2024 22:25

I'm not much of a regular on here, but do pop in from time to time. I'm a language teacher. I teach French, German and Spanish, not Engish. If you want to know about grammar rules though, ask an MFL teacher, not an English teacher (in my experience)!

Report
HowIrresponsible · 01/07/2024 22:26

We looked at law degrees and they all seem to have a mandatory criminal law section in the first year.

yes because crime is a compulsory subject on a law degree. You can't get a law degree without studying it.

Report
Vestigial · 01/07/2024 22:28

I’m a novelist alongside a day job teaching Eng Lit and creative writing at a university. I am a series editor for two academic book series too.

Copy editors and proofreaders need a laser focus for typos, grammatical errors etc.

Report
SlothOnARope · 01/07/2024 22:51

Translation (I'm a translator) Extremely niche and now a struggling industry (depending on the language), but reading machine translation and finding the errors is also a skill. There are related jobs, AI is not as good as people think it is.

Working for the EU/EC or an international body that produces page after page of drivel vitally important information?

Technical writing, auditing, or report writing?

Report
Pottingup · 01/07/2024 23:06

Criminal law is a very small part of a law degree. He’d probably find it quite interesting as well - it’s not blood and guts but concepts like mens rea and actus reus.

Report
LostAllMySocks · 01/07/2024 23:19

Pottingup · 01/07/2024 23:06

Criminal law is a very small part of a law degree. He’d probably find it quite interesting as well - it’s not blood and guts but concepts like mens rea and actus reus.

Thanks, this is really good to know. Do you know if there is a good first year crinimal law textbook that we could look at? That would give us a really good idea of what it involved. We've got the A level one already.

OP posts:
Report
HowIrresponsible · 01/07/2024 23:23

LostAllMySocks · 01/07/2024 23:19

Thanks, this is really good to know. Do you know if there is a good first year crinimal law textbook that we could look at? That would give us a really good idea of what it involved. We've got the A level one already.

Show quote history

I'd decide if he wants to do the degree first. Clarkson and Keating was the book I had on my LLB.

Report
HowIrresponsible · 01/07/2024 23:24

Pottingup · 01/07/2024 23:06

Criminal law is a very small part of a law degree. He’d probably find it quite interesting as well - it’s not blood and guts but concepts like mens rea and actus reus.

That's not entirely true. The sexual offences section of the course was pretty grim.

Report
LostAllMySocks · 01/07/2024 23:31

HowIrresponsible · 01/07/2024 23:24

That's not entirely true. The sexual offences section of the course was pretty grim.

Show quote history

Oh dear. Yes he wouldn't manage that.

He does like a good MN parking thread, but they're quite tame. I'm not sure how you get into that kind of law without learning all the grim bits too.

OP posts:
Report
HowIrresponsible · 01/07/2024 23:37

LostAllMySocks · 01/07/2024 23:31

Oh dear. Yes he wouldn't manage that.

He does like a good MN parking thread, but they're quite tame. I'm not sure how you get into that kind of law without learning all the grim bits too.

Show quote history

He is an adult or nearly one? Surely he could cope with a couple of classes on sex offences?

Archives as a career?

Report
Metempsychosis · 02/07/2024 00:03

The nasty bits of criminal law are really a tiny bit of a law degree (or post degree law conversion course). TBH you could probably still get a good degree class even if you skipped the sexual offences lectures completely.

Tax law is excellent for pedants if he's reasonably numerate, and the pay can be very good.

Report
Recuperation7 · 02/07/2024 00:15

He could do some sort of regulatory law. Import, export, customs etc. Complex and detailed. You also need to forge good relationships with clients.

Report
LostAllMySocks · 02/07/2024 07:33

I think it's probably best if we look at the textbooks for tax law and regular law. Maybe we will get an idea from those about what it involved. Thanks so much for this. It's really so helpful.

OP posts:
Report
HowIrresponsible · 02/07/2024 07:58

To be honest reading law books out of context without being at uni isn't a great idea.

Also what is regular law? I've never heard it in 20 years in the profession.

He needs to do his own research and not have his mum do it for him. Proper research. I say this with no animus because it is coming across quite badly and amateurish here. You don't want that coming across to a prospective university.

If he's an unstoppable force with nitpicking grammar why is his mum doing his research?

Nitpickers often think they are smarter than they actually are.

Report
HowIrresponsible · 02/07/2024 08:20

Ds really reminds me of Sir Humphry Appleby, because he just loves to read these long documents and memorise the contents. He's read a massive 300 page instruction manual for a card game recently and is vicerally frustated because he can't find anyone who is a gripped by the nuanced detail as he is.

On second thought law isn't a good shout. Much of the job is explaining very complex points to lay clients and finding a way to do thaf. If he can't do that and gets visibly frustrated at people who can't understand every detail then it's not a good idea for a career. Law isn't memorising and regurgitating complex facts at people.

Report
whirlyhead · 02/07/2024 08:25

My sibling was a proof reader who became a plain English specialist which they do very well at and make a good living at.

They help companies write documents and policies that are easily readable. They are also working with the legal system in their country to make legal documents and jargon more understandable to every day people. As well they re-write government forms and documents so people can more easily understand them.

They are a total pedant but in a nice way!

Report

Mumsnet Weekly Hot Threads

Weekly

Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!

Woman smiling and making heart symbol with her hands

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

Metempsychosis · 02/07/2024 08:28

HowIrresponsible · 02/07/2024 08:20

Ds really reminds me of Sir Humphry Appleby, because he just loves to read these long documents and memorise the contents. He's read a massive 300 page instruction manual for a card game recently and is vicerally frustated because he can't find anyone who is a gripped by the nuanced detail as he is.

On second thought law isn't a good shout. Much of the job is explaining very complex points to lay clients and finding a way to do thaf. If he can't do that and gets visibly frustrated at people who can't understand every detail then it's not a good idea for a career. Law isn't memorising and regurgitating complex facts at people.

Edited

To be fair there are virtually no fields of employment where you can get away with getting grumpy at people who don't understand the topic as well as you do/do understand it but differ in their interpretation. That's a character trait he's going to need to work on whatever he does.

Report
Vestigial · 02/07/2024 08:30

Metempsychosis · 02/07/2024 08:28

To be fair there are virtually no fields of employment where you can get away with getting grumpy at people who don't understand the topic as well as you do/do understand it but differ in their interpretation. That's a character trait he's going to need to work on whatever he does.

Show quote history

Agreed.

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.