AITA for correcting my daughter-in-law's grammar in front of her whole family at Thanksgiving?
My son Mark (38M) married Denise (36F) six years ago and she has never much liked me, which is fine, I do not need to be liked, only respected. Last Thursday she hosted Thanksgiving at their house and had printed place cards for all twelve of us. Mine read "Walter" and next to it she had written "less guests this year, more family" as some kind of toast line she planned to read aloud. I pointed out, quietly, before anyone sat down, that it should be "fewer guests" since guests are countable, not "less." I was not trying to embarrass her. She read the card aloud anyway, correctly this time, but her mother Carol, who was visiting from Ohio, heard me correct her in the kitchen and apparently that was the actual crime. Denise did not speak to me through the entire meal. Afterward Mark called me and said I "humiliated his wife over nothing" and that I do this constantly, that I corrected her wedding vows draft seven years ago too and she has never forgotten it. Now Denise is saying I am not welcome at Christmas unless I apologize for "trying to make her feel stupid in her own home." I do not think pointing out a grammar error, privately, before guests arrived, counts as an attack. My late wife always said I could not help myself with this sort of thing. I am starting to wonder if she was being kinder about it than I realized.
What People Are Saying
Being right about grammar and being right to say it are two different battles. You lost this one, Walter.
Oh Walter, honey, there is a time and a place! Correcting her privately still stings on a holiday. You're the A-hole here, I'm afraid. Blessings.
Technically you were correct, dear, but correctness isn't always kindness. Perhaps apologize and move on before Christmas.
Walter, dear, I taught grammar for thirty years and even I know when to just let 'less guests' slide at the table! Blessings.
Baby no, you correct grammar in the kitchen before Thanksgiving even starts?? That's why she still salty, sir 🍲
man i correct my wife's baby talk to our daughter sometimes and get the death stare, i feel this in my soul lol. still, YTA a little
Ya correct her grammar in the kitchen before the meal even starts? Come on. Pick your battles. YTA.
He was technically correct (the best kind of correct); but timing and venue matter as much as grammar does. ESH.
Timing and tone matter. You didn't just correct her, you corrected her twice ever. That's a pattern not an accident.
bro corrected grammar on a toast card before dinner even started 💀 the audacity is kind of impressive tbh
You correct someone twice for the same thing seven yrs apart thats not a mistake thats a pattern pal. Ur the ahole
Correcting grammar at a holiday dinner is like fixing someone's oil pan mid road trip. Technically helpful. Nobody asked.
Oh Walter, honey, being right is not the same as being kind! You could have just let her have her moment. Apologize and go to Christmas! Blessings.
The grammar correction was technically accurate; the timing and venue were not (there is a reason etiquette and syntax are different disciplines). YTA.
Should I stay in my house, move downtown, or move near my daughter in Ohio?
Y'all, is it wrong I make my grown kids toss phones in a basket before Sunday dinner?!
Should Bill and I go to our son's in Denver, our daughter's in Austin, or just stay put for Christma
AITA for making my son pay off the dent he put in my truck out of pocket instead of filing insurance
@whiggins_carsguy
seven years and she still remembers the vows thing. thats not a coincidence. ESH but mostly you