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Original poster

To actually hate people who say bought instead of brought

664 replies

GentleButter · 08/04/2024 21:41

Why?
WHY DO PEOPLE SAY BOUGHT WHEN THEY SHOULD SAY BROUGHT?
It's unbearable.
I cannot bear it when someone says it.
I'm polite, so I have to use every muscle in my throat and mouth to stop myself from screaming "But you didn't BUY it! So WHY are you saying BOUGHT????"
It happens constantly.
I was in a meeting at work. Someone said "Yes, I bought this issue up the other day" internally, I screamed "But you didn't BUY this issue, so WTF are you saying you BOUGHT it?".
This goes on and on all around me.
Worst of all, my own husband says it, which is insufferable. No amount of me correcting him will make him understand the nonsense of saying 'bought' when he should say 'brought'. And he went to private school, so he was well educated and he still can't get it right. There's no excuse.

OP posts:
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towhomitmayconcern · 10/04/2024 10:50

ThanksItHasPockets · 10/04/2024 08:27

Imagine adding insult to injury by having your post reproduced on MN for pedants to mock…

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Quite. I’d have assumed the person was either dyslexic or that English was not their first language. Neither of which require a single person in the world to berate them. This is quite different to someone using the odd word incorrectly.

ASighMadeOfStone · 10/04/2024 10:50

NortieTortie · 10/04/2024 10:46

I can't say it bothers me tbh.

'Could care less' when they mean 'couldn't care less' on the other hand...

https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/could-couldnt-care-less

There's a lovely analysis of could care less/couldn't care less here. Nice explanation of why "could care less" came into being, and why people don't like it.

Is It 'Could' or 'Couldn't Care Less'?

Can you care fewer?

https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/could-couldnt-care-less

NortieTortie · 10/04/2024 10:46

I can't say it bothers me tbh.

'Could care less' when they mean 'couldn't care less' on the other hand...

2mummies1baby · 10/04/2024 10:44

DontTakeThePiss · 10/04/2024 08:37

I've got a friend who can't tell the difference between to/too/two - she's 66!
She also gets confused between through and threw. It's pathetic.

Does your friend know you have such disdain for her?

willWillSmithsmith · 10/04/2024 10:43

AngelinaFibres · 10/04/2024 08:54

My brother. Well educated, senior academic, not ND, not dyslexic " I'll just have a slither of cake". It's bloody SLIVER.

That reminds me of dribble instead of drivel. Quite a common one that.

Mangledrake · 10/04/2024 10:43

I manage quite a lot of people who are dyslexic, and some with aphasia.

This doesn't affect the quality of their work, and it has no importance for internal communications.

Every one of them has a layer of anxiety and hesitation about their work, and they are always anxious about being jumped on for getting things wrong.

Telling someone once that they are wrong doesn't work for everyone.

There are situations (teaching / agreed collaboration / proofreading) where pointing out errors is appropriate. This does not mean you won't see the same errors in future.

If you are lucky enough to find this stuff easy, try not to underestimate how much of an advantage that gives you. Think very carefully before criticising and correcting. You may just be piling on as the latest in a lifetime's worth of amateur critics.

2mummies1baby · 10/04/2024 10:42

Kazzybingbong · 10/04/2024 08:51

I don’t believe texted is in the OED either is it? Text wasn’t a verb until relatively recently.

Language is fluid and will naturally adapt alongside us. I think using text as a past tense verb is perfectly acceptable.

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It's because it ends in a 't'- 'hit' is the past tense of 'hit', so it makes logical sense that 'text' would be the past tense of 'text'.

Personally, I use 'texted', but I don't think you can claim 'text' is wrong.

BlueBilledBeatboxingBird · 10/04/2024 10:42

SabreIsMyFave · 09/04/2024 22:39

I must admit I am guilty of saying 'can I get a latte please?' I do say 'CAN I GET,' instead of 'can I have.'

A bit of a habit, picked up from my millennial daughters! 😬

I’m a millennial but I dislike and avoid ‘Can I get’ in coffee shops and similar. It’s perfectly grammatical but it just sounds really rude to my ears. I read a lot of Chalet School as a child and it’s left me with a permanent awareness of when to use ‘can’ and when to use ‘may’!

’Can I get’ is, however, preferable to the growing American use of ‘I’m gonna do’ when ordering in a restaurant. ‘I’m gonna do the chicken, with a side of rice, and I’m gonna do a margarita…’ etc etc. Shudder.

willWillSmithsmith · 10/04/2024 10:40

dickdarstardlymuttley · 10/04/2024 08:43

Having read this thread, I find it really no wonder that neurodivergent people mask their symptoms.

I have a friend who says brought instead of bought (I never correct her, of course) but she’s not ND. Neither is the friend who says lend instead of borrow (never correct her either as I want to keep my friends lol).

willWillSmithsmith · 10/04/2024 10:37

I find it’s usually the other way round. They say brought instead of bought. Yes it sets my teeth on edge as does lend instead of borrow.

ThanksItHasPockets · 10/04/2024 10:28

Jjjj1980 · 10/04/2024 09:45

The person actually admitted that as part of their employment they have to be 100% correct in all written and spoken communication so use the wrong words purposefully outside of work as they find it funny to make it awkward for people to understand!

Edited
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Then why did you say that you thought they should have used a dictionary?

ThanksItHasPockets · 10/04/2024 10:26

sashh · 10/04/2024 09:40

That's quite insulting to those of us who are dyslexic.

It's someone who is not literate.

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I’m sorry for any offence as that wasn’t my intention. The two are not mutually exclusive.

ASighMadeOfStone · 10/04/2024 10:26

Mrschickenn · 10/04/2024 10:22

I get fed up of people saying .
I see so and so yesterday. It’s saw
also learn and teach are not interchangeable

Yet you don't seem to care about correct punctuation.
It's interesting, isn't it? How some things bother us so very much, yet other, equally important mistakes clearly not at all.

Mrschickenn · 10/04/2024 10:22

I get fed up of people saying .
I see so and so yesterday. It’s saw
also learn and teach are not interchangeable

fungipie · 10/04/2024 10:20

Anyone who actually hates someone for a 'word'- truly needs their head examined.

No wonder the world is such a mess!

ColleenDonaghy · 10/04/2024 10:20

ASighMadeOfStone · 10/04/2024 10:14

@ColleenDonaghy Brew morning.

Just saw you on another thread and was wondering where you were on this one. Grin

Cake to go with the Brew.

ASighMadeOfStone · 10/04/2024 10:19

Seymour5 · 10/04/2024 08:30

I was taught, in Scotland, to say ‘may I have…?’. I hear ‘can I get..’ quite often nowadays, I assume it’s an import from the USA.

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You assume wrong.
Middle English is the origin.

ASighMadeOfStone · 10/04/2024 10:14

@ColleenDonaghy Brew morning.

ASighMadeOfStone · 10/04/2024 10:13

Kazzybingbong · 10/04/2024 08:51

I don’t believe texted is in the OED either is it? Text wasn’t a verb until relatively recently.

Language is fluid and will naturally adapt alongside us. I think using text as a past tense verb is perfectly acceptable.

Show quote history

All new verbs are regular, so "texted" is the correct form.

Consensus is that a lot of people think it's an irregular past simple because so many one syllable verbs ending in "t" are. (Historically and etymologically the ones not derived from French, Latin etc) So, people see a new verb that looks like those ones, and apply the same hardwired rule.

I imagine both forms will be accepted as standard in due course.

ColleenDonaghy · 10/04/2024 10:06

Koptforitagain · 10/04/2024 09:54

No it’s aitch! It’s only slipped into being correct because so many get it wrong.

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Christ. No, it isn't. I know that's what you were taught, and what you've grown up with, but it's both. Aitch is actually an example of h-dropping ('ospital rather than hospital, 'otel rather than hotel), it's just stuck aorund.

In NI the pronunciation tells people which community you come from. Aitch = Protestant/unionist/British and Haitch = Catholic/nationalist/Irish (very broadly speaking). If I announced either to be incorrect in the workplace I would expect to find myself in hot water.

A couple of useful articles:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/haitch-or-aitch-pronunciation-letter-h-old-english-a8393766.html

https://www.theguardian.com/science/shortcuts/2013/nov/04/letter-h-contentious-alphabet-history-alphabetical-rosen

Haitch or aitch? How a humble letter was held hostage by historical haughtiness

An unspoken class war has long been waged around the pronunciation of the letter ‘h’ – is it haitch or aitch? Despite a snobbish leaning to the latter, haitch makes more sense

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/haitch-or-aitch-pronunciation-letter-h-old-english-a8393766.html

MrsB74 · 10/04/2024 10:06

nimski · 08/04/2024 21:43

I have a friend who does it the other way round and says 'I brought this top at the new shop in town' drives me nuts!

Edited

I know lots of people who do this. It’s up there with draws instead of drawers! Drives me nuts!

Koptforitagain · 10/04/2024 09:54

ColleenDonaghy · 10/04/2024 07:22

And I'll direct you to the hundreds of haitch Vs aitch threads on here and explain to you that haitch is equally correct, and the standard name of the letter in Ireland. So you can stop getting worked up about that one in future!

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No it’s aitch! It’s only slipped into being correct because so many get it wrong.

Jjjj1980 · 10/04/2024 09:45

sashh · 10/04/2024 09:40

That's quite insulting to those of us who are dyslexic.

It's someone who is not literate.

Show quote history

The person actually admitted that as part of their employment they have to be 100% correct in all written and spoken communication so use the wrong words purposefully outside of work as they find it funny to make it awkward for people to understand!

MsRosley · 10/04/2024 09:41

There's been a rash of people actually typing bought on here, when they mean brought. Drives me mad too. But not as mad as when people type loose when they mean lose.

sashh · 10/04/2024 09:40

ThanksItHasPockets · 10/04/2024 08:06

That honestly looks like the work of a severely dyslexic person who has used autocomplete to give their best guess for each word. Using a dictionary to check literally every word would take them hours. I suspect that fifteen years ago that person wouldn’t have written any of that down: social media has really exposed the literacy difficulties experienced by adults.

They would have been better off using the dictate function on their phone.

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That's quite insulting to those of us who are dyslexic.

It's someone who is not literate.