Why do people get bought and brought mixed up?

I haven't read twt but I think that it's very common in some areas. I'm from the Midlands and I think it happens a lot there.

It does. It’s part of the local dialect.

I wasn’t aware of it until I got a job in the midlands.

Because they don’t read much so are relying on what they hear.

I’ve noticed “chester draws” on Facebook marketplace recently, in place of “chest of drawers”. Someone who had seen that written down a few times wouldn’t make that mistake.

I haven't read twt but I think that it's very common in some areas. I'm from the Midlands and I think it happens a lot there.
It's nothing to do with intelligence or educational standards- those suggesting the latter need a bit of education themselves in my view.
We all learn to speak by copying those around us. We're all doing the same thing.
Brought and bought are both irregular past tenses with one letter difference and there are some sentences where either will do.

So did the drop the R in brought, or add an R to bought? I can't see how they can be pronounced in the same way otherwise!

Think of the voice over on the old Hovis adverts. Some Yorkshire accents have problems pronouncing R.

Both pronounced bought, well bowrt

I don't know, maybe they just don't have your superior intellect.

I have a complete mental block on this. I have no idea which is which, and I do my best to not use either word if I can help it 🤣 I'm not daft, degree educated. No issues with any other words 🤷

Finally a post about this! YANBU
My pet hate!!!

"Some misspellings leave me completely baffled as to how the author came up with them, because to me that combination of letters could not, or would be very unlikely to make that sound"

@BertieBotts this jumped out at me from your post, because this is precisely what my dyslexic DS struggles with. The root of his problem is poor phonological awareness - he quite simply struggles to process the sounds that make up words. Phonics was a nightmare when he was younger, and was not how he eventually learned to read. As a result, his spelling is very random as he finds it very difficult to put together letters and sounds. He tries to do it visually by what looks right, and is heavily reliant on spellcheckers. He absolutely muddle s up bought and brought.

I often wonder if there is a sliding scale of phonological awareness, and that maybe many more people struggle with it than I realise, but not severely enough for a dyslexia diagnosis.

The bring/take thing comes up on here quite a lot - they're used differently in Ireland to England (possibly Scotland too?), and obviously emigration has meant that Hiberno-English has had a big influence in the US and other places. Both usages are correct.

From wiki:

Bring and take: Irish use of these words differs from that of British English because it follows the Irish grammar for beir and tóg. English usage is determined by direction; a person determines Irish usage. So, in English, one takes "from here to there", and brings it "to here from there". In Irish, a person takes only when accepting a transfer of possession of the object from someone else – and a person brings at all other times, irrespective of direction (to or from).

Don't forget to bring your umbrella with you when you leave.
(To a child) Hold my hand: I don't want someone to take you.

YANBU IMO

Thanks. That is only my theory, practice and instinct, mind you- other views are available!

@Catnary - this is really interesting. Instinctively, I would have used "bring" and "take" in the same way, but if asked I would not have been able to articulate that "bring" was used on a journey I had already planned, and "take" dictates the journey. It is lovely to learn something new - thank you!

I’d enjoy chatting to you at a party @BertieBotts! I can identify with a lot of what you are saying.
I used to post on a forum that had a regular contributor called Chris Ghoti, I assumed it was some sort of Indian name for many years until the origin of the name was explained!

YY, I don't know if it's a gene as such but the idea of a spelling "gene" is absolutely true to me.

I think what it is is whether you read words as a whole, which is how most people over 20 were taught to read, or whether you decode phonically. Some people figure that out without ever being taught it, almost instinctively, and it makes it easy to spell. Apparently those of us who do this under the old reading system would have been seen as fast learners and learned to read very quickly, this is simply because rather than having to build up a vocabulary of recognisable words which is a longer process, we built up a set of rules similar to the phonics rules which are now taught explicitly to children. I actually remember learning to read, which according to my school records I did at four, and it seeming to just unlock all of a sudden all at once. So presumably I must have done this (I don't remember though and I'm sure I am just lucky!)

Some misspellings leave me completely baffled as to how the author came up with them, because to me that combination of letters could not, or would be very unlikely to make that sound. And effect / affect is not something I have ever struggled with, because effect can be pronounced as uh-fect or if-fect, and if-fect could never be spelled "affect". Affect can be pronounced as uh-fect or aff-fect, and aff-ect could not be spelt "effect". So I simply run the sentence in my brain with Aff-ect or iff-ect and I know immediately which one to use. But many people do struggle with this one, because of the uh-fect pronunciation which could reasonably be spelt either way.

Have you ever come across the riddle/joke where somebody explains how confusing English spelling is by spelling "fish" "ghoti" ?

They explain that it is like taking the gh from enough, the o from women and the ti from motion.

But this isn't actually how spelling works, the gh sound for example never appears at the beginning of a word and ti doesn't exist as a "sh" sound on its own, it's only ever a combination with "tion".

(Yes I am very boring at parties)

It’s people thinking of ring/rang.

Another thing that's worse than muddling you 'bought' and 'brought'... 'brang' instead of 'brought'.

I actually heard this once. "I brang his homework today".

It's not as bad as 'could of' and 'rest bite'.

Well to me “I need to take a packed lunch to school tomorrow” means “I need to take a lunch to school, drop it off and go somewhere else”.

I need to “bring” a packed lunch to school tomorrow means “I need to go to school with my lunch in my bag, in order to eat it there”.

However that is synonymous with “I need to take a packed lunch WITH ME to school tomorrow.

I can agree that some people would not instinctively use “bring” in this context. But that does not mean that it is categorically, definitively wrong.

In this one “Rowena” from Scotland makes the “Roa” vowel sound in her name that we make in “Roar”

To me, this wholly depends on where you are.

If you're still at school, "I need to bring a packed lunch to school tomorrow" is fine (in fact, I probably wouldn't bother with the "to school", it's redundant)

If you're already at home, I would say "I need to take a packed lunch to school tomorrow".

This is what “awe” and other “aw” words sound like in a Scottish accent. (“craw” is the Scot’s word for a crow”.)

That's about 10% of population if I am not mistaken. I think people do consider it but the issue is more widespread, so it's really not just people with dyslexia and LDs. Well outside of mn at least.
People can moan about falling educational standards while still considering LDs

Feel similar about people who call drawers ‘draws’…

I think its pretty sad that people don't consider dyslexia or learning difficulties.