In the digital era, with ubiquitous grammar check & spell check, grammar nazis are so passe. The new frontier of perfectionism belongs to the self-described “typography nazis!” A new post at Receding Hairline lists and explains common typographical errors that have become convention by way of lax standards. You’d think good word processing software would catch this sort of thing, right? Wrong! Hyphenation errors are still remarkably common and “smart quotes” can still leave your work riddled with issues that would drive a typographist mad. To wit, citing “I am 5?10? tall” as an example:

So those ’straight’ quotes aren’t for proper quotes, but they represent feet and inches, right? Wrong. They’re not actually for anything. Feet and inches should be represented by primes, which look a bit like straight quotes tilted slightly to the right. If your browser supports the characters, the above statement should read: I am 5? 10? tall.

These issues may seem nitpicky, and the author seems ready to admit that they are, but if you want to stay on the bleeding edge of pedantry this is the kind of stuff you’ve got to stay up on!

Ten Typographical Mistakes Everyone Makes @ Receding Hairline