# Manners maketh man...

### the more frustrating aspects of the interweb and putting yourself out there!

[Greg Penn](https://substack.com/@manwithahammer)  
May 15, 2026

Well, a short little rant today folks haha so apologies in advance for venting (and I’m curious to hear your thoughts as to whether my annoyance at it or not is valid!)… but, there’s been a few instances recently of having my spelling corrected on Instagram and it sort of blows my mind!

_Free to read - I can’t charge anyone for this misspelt nonsense surely! But, if you haven’t yet, subscribing for free, or to the full paid package is always hugely appreciated!_

Now - I appreciate I am not the world’s greatest writer and certainly not brilliant at spelling. I’ve never pretended to be! Whilst I love getting my thoughts down on paper for people to read, and like to think, in the main, people can understand what I’m saying and my meaning… I really aren’t terribly interested beyond that! These articles and my Insta posts and the like are, ultimately, informal methods of me communicating with you in the same way I hope I’d be able to chat with you over a pint down t’pub.

I’m also quite busy… and spinning a million plates at once - so rarely properly proofread anything - preferring to spend that time either writing more, or getting on with the next job on the quite literally, never ending jobs list - whether that’s cracking on renovating, filming something for insta - or getting dinner in the oven!

It’s not to say I don’t try hard at getting it right… I’m also reasonably well read, have, I hope, a fairly interesting and wide vocabulary, and am rarely beaten at Scrabble (ha!)… but truly, I’d rather write two articles on here with the odd spelling mistake, or issue with their grammar, for you to enjoy - than have time only for one that I go through with a fine toothed comb… and those are literally the two options I have with only so many hours in the day!

I also hope, in a world now full of AI hogwash, reading something very (and yes, sometimes painfully!) obviously written by a human, has to be a good thing! (I’m tempted to write a whole article on AI slop if you’d like to hear my thoughts on it?).

Now, if you didn’t see it - this was a carousel of 14 images, documenting the transformation, from start to finish, of the renovation of the bathroom. Alongside it was a waffly caption that will have maxed out its characters (I always do! they only give you 2200 to play with - approx. 400 words)… and each slide, I’d added some text to help the viewer with the context for each picture. This was I think around slide 11.

So, by that point, even if you’re new to ‘Man with a Hammer’ you’re fairly locked into this being a post about, what I hope feels like quite an old fashioned, luxurious bathroom… and not, you know, a person that’s died.

So I find it literally impossible to believe someone was looking at that picture, and that text, and couldn’t work out that what I meant was decadent…

I also think it’s worth pointing out that this post wasn’t an advert, or sponsored in anyway… and is completely free for anyone to read (or, you know - scroll past if you don’t like someone’s spelling)… certainly if I’m doing work I’m being paid for from a brand, I do my best to get things right there and proof read those about 50 times making them as good as I can… but this was not one of those.

On top of that, this post had well over 1,000 comments - all of which I responded to personally. 99.9% of them of course are lovely, and it’s a joy to reply to people - if time consuming - but I just I suppose, wanted to try and put you in the headspace I was in… this post went live 7am - I set my alarm at 6.30am to be awake and ready to post - all fine - this is the job at the end of the day… It’s also worth pointing out that text on an Instagram post is something that you can’t edit - the only option is to delete the post - and nor do you get a spell check facility when creating these captions (at 6.30am prior to my first coffee of the day - and I really aren’t at my best in the mornings!).

So for someone to read all that… see the countless hours of graft I spent restoring the room… see the beautiful features I rescued and brought back to life… to see the colours and patterns and history… and be served that for free, and with the free will to scroll past… and to ignore all that and comment…  
‘*decadent*’  
Well… alas I can at best, only really describe that person as a pedant, and at worst words that would likely have this little page closed down haha. It is rude and I am pretty firm in my belief that ‘manners maketh the man’.

Honestly, I just can’t imagine how incredibly small your world is, to get value in that…. to ignore everything else and focus on the one, tiny, and frankly in this instance, inconsequential detail in an effort to boost your own feeling of self importance. Find a more interesting hobby!

Of course, there are exceptions to the above. If truly you can’t understand the meaning of something… then ask away! I use a lot of Yorkshireisms (and probably a few entirely made up ‘Gregisms’ in fairness), that not everyone understands and am always happy to help… and I did have people point it out, in a much more charming way which I don’t mind quite so much!

And of course where it really matters - legal documents - peoples names - that sort of thing - again, crack on (nicely - don’t be a dick about it).

But, if you’re being an arse just to feel smug - well - you’re an arse, and pack it in!

Honestly, when I read something that contains the odd error… typo… or even better, some made up word that the writer is using that’s probably been passed down generations because someone’s grandad once started calling something that - brings me joy. It makes me feel connected to them on a much more personal level than something that’s had the character stripped from it in Chatgpt. A bit like when someone buys an old house, only to rip all the features out of it, stick bad uPVC windows in, and paint it white! In the same way I’d far sooner listen to a singer that might have a regional accent, or isn’t quite hitting the notes but is full of passion or love or fury… than something that’s been autotuned to death.

But mainly, when dealing with people you don’t know (and for 99% of the time those you do), unless specifically asked to critique something, I firmly believe the phrase ‘If you’ve nowt nice to say, better to say nowt at all’ will hold you in good stead, and ultimately make the world a better place! The idea that by putting something on the interweb, you’re open to critique is no different to leaving the house in a coat, and to expect to walk down the road without people telling you they hate your coat. It’s literally never happened to me in the flesh, so why people do it online (other than to mask their own unhappiness and what not) blows my mind!

Ahh - that feels better! Thanks for listening and allowing me to treat substack as my personal therapy session haha!

As always, thanks for reading - I’d say ‘please subscribe if you haven’t already haha but can’t think why anyone would want to after reading the above but, if you have your own thoughts on this - I’d love to hear them! Is it really me being an arse for being annoyed by these people (should probably say, this is all written with a smile on my face - I am ridiculously thick skinned and actually quite hard to annoy haha much to Cot’s annoyance - but thought it worth saying all the same!)?

And if naught else folks, let me wish you a happy Friday! We had the most gorgeous weekend last weekend with amazing weather, staying in the cutest little wagon you ever did see (see insta if you are interested) and this weekend we’d planned to have Cot’s gran over for afternoon tea in the garden as I’ve been working on a little project out there… but the weather looks miserable - but either way, I hope you’ve something lovely planned!

Greg Xx