I've never felt good calling myself a language nerd, since I only speak one language. But I can't call myself an English nerd because I'm not English. And I've been making a serious effort to not be a pedant because language changes over time and you can't stop it. For example, it grinds my gears when people say "less" when they mean "fewer," but I don't correct people, and I vow right now that I'm going to let that go forever. I'm fine with ending a sentence with a preposition, because the lengths you must go to in order to avoid it are never worth the effort. If someone corrects you on that, tell them to "Shut up." Or if you're feeling generous, say, "Go on."
There are other grammar rules that are just not worth policing because popular usage is changing. I could not get my kids to say "different from" instead of "different than," and I would correct "on accident" to be "by accident." But why, then, is that different from saying "on purpose"? Yeah, some grammar rules should just go away- especially ones about the confusing use of English prepositions.
Learning a second language makes you understand how hard grammar really is. Princess speaks three languages and the grammar rules of Spanish or French can slip into her English in funny ways. Dr. Dolittle is learning Nepali ahead of her second wedding this fall, and she tells me the word order is completely different from English. We should all be more forgiving about English grammar, especially from someone who knows more than one language. If you can make yourself understood by the person you are addressing, that should be enough.
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