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This sentence is one of my favorite things about the internet. I see it often and sometimes have it directed toward me. It's one of the few times I don't feel guilty about being a stickler.
Is there a term for this? If not, do you have suggestions?
Self-reference is already taken. "Takes one to know one" is close. But, that phrase implicates both parties. If the recipient catches the mistake, the insult is reversed.
It's more like blaming someone for something you did when the person saw you do it. They can be smug while you are complaining. But in this case, the act of complaining is the offense.
I'm trying to remember a variation of the sticks and stones saying. It's something about the words coming back and sticking to you.
A) Is there a term for this?
B) If not, what ideas do you have?
C) Does anybody remember the non-sticks-and-stones saying?
First, the sticky saying I remember from my youth is:
"I'm rubber; you're glue: that bounces off me and sticks to you."
As for retorts in such situations as you describe, I find silence is the best revenge. Any good parry is as wasted as proverbial pearls. Unless there is an appreciative audience, that is. Even so, you risk wallowing with the offender if you respond. How much sweeter to let the fool remain in ignorance — and that fate is more damaging than any retort I can think of.
I agree with what Glenn had to say about the best retort is generally silence. "Don't wrestle with pigs in the mud; you'll just get dirty and they love it."
It sounds kind of like you are describing Muphry's [sic] law (aka Hartman's Law of Prescriptivist Retaliation). It's something along the line of: as the level of self-righteous indignation and pedantry rises, so does the probability of making the same or stupider error during correction.
edit: formatting
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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