Correcting correction as social action: Critical metaprescriptivism in online interaction

Drawing on a qualitative analysis of 14 comment threads from the Facebook group People Incorrectly Correcting Other People , this article examines correction and recorrection as forms of social action in online interaction. It shows how participants respond to misguided corrections along multiple dimensions: linguistic accuracy, tone, motive, and social legitimacy of corrective acts. These responses frequently rely on humor and playful reframing, through which users position themselves, (dis)align with others, and manage face. To capture this reflexive dimension, the article introduces the concept of critical metaprescriptivism , defined as second-order metapragmatic practice that scrutinizes the social acceptability of prescriptive logic in the very act of reproducing it. The analysis demonstrates how (re)corrections function as stance-taking practices shaped by shared moral expectations and affective norms within the interactional context. These practices reconfigure prescriptivism as an interactional resource through which authority is claimed, performed, contested, and parodied. The study contributes to research on metapragmatics, stance, as well as norm enforcement by showing how prescriptive orientations are negotiated in interaction and how correction operates as a socially and morally embedded practice in online discourse. • Analyzes (re)correction as metapragmatic social action. • Introduces critical metaprescriptivism as a reflexive stance practice. • Shows how humor and affect shape the legitimacy of norm enforcement. • Demonstrates how stance and (dis)alignment regulate who may correct whom. • Reframes prescriptivism as an interactional participation genre.