Hartman's Law
Updated 2026-08-09
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
A rule of thumb about prescriptive correction, in the spirit of Murphy's law, stating that attempts to fix someone else's usage reliably introduce errors of their own. The observation is that attention directed outward at another's mistakes reduces the attention available for one's own output. The core claim is that the posture of correction impairs the corrector. The qualification is that the rule is a humorous generalization about vigilance rather than a linguistic universal about word order.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Use Humility Check: Recall the rule before publicly correcting someone else's work. - Use Attention Budget: Recognize that scrutinizing others consumes the attention your own output needs. - Use Self-Review First: Check your own text before issuing corrections to another's.
Anchor fast decisions
Attention is limited, and monitoring another person's output for faults occupies the same resources needed to monitor your own. When the goal shifts to finding fault, the search narrows toward the target and away from everything else, including your own writing. This is why the correction itself becomes the site of the next error, and why the pattern is reliable enough to have become a named rule.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muphry%27s_lawverified
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