To get annoyed when mnetters put "of" instead of "have"

[Doobies]

I see it more and more often in aibu.

"to of eaten this"

"to of gone out today"

To give a couple of examples.

Ooh spelling salts! I like that one!

I think spelling salts is very appropriate!

Slang and acronyms aren't the same as mistakes, though.

Great typo

That could be our new emoticon! A little bottle of spelling salts!

Loving spelling salts

Yes but if I write in slang and 'could of' is slang imo ,loads on here would have a fit of the vapours ..

No I don't think "could of" is slang.

if in a rush.I put things like t rolls or pots-potatoes,if i make a spelling mistake it wouldnt bother me cos its only me who sees it.As for texts i do send a lot cos 2 ds in the services but with time difference etc its usually quick and to the point,no deliberate mistakes but no worries if not,they know what i mean.I just see mn as the same level of importance as a text and sometimes you might post when not on top form or in a hurry cos we are mums and likely to be tired,pregnant or dealing with family thats why my posts will never be word perfect.

"Oh FFS Sooty.

'It is simply bad manners to ask 'AIBU to get annoyed...' that some people don't know it should be PUT 'to have' and not 'to of' thus pointing out yet another mistake they make when posting on here and make them feel uncomfortable/embarrassed.

Happy now?

Why is it that you pick up on tiny insignificant thing like that and yet are unwilling to answer my questions directed at you?"

Now you see, I happened to consider it quite significant in terms of the argument you were pursuing. Obviously we will have to agree to differ on that. I did think I'd answered your questions: my apologies if the answers were insufficiently clear.

I kind of see your point usualsuspect, but for me 'could of' isn't in the same category as 'ain't'. 'Could of' is just too easily confused with plain wrongness.

I don't think a forum is the same as a text. A text is between two people in private: a forum is chatting to lots of strangers in the public domain.

Thats it exactly though sooty ..its chatting

People seem to think that 'could of' is just a typo rather than a basic grammatical error.

If it doesn't matter, if we should all just chill out, then why bother teaching the difference to primary school children?

When foreigners are taught English, they are taught the difference. As long as it is not pointed out in a condescending manner, isn't it useful to let people know that they have made a basic error? That way they can learn.

I know the difference ..I just don't think it matters on a chat site

fed up of/with repeating myself

but what about people who don't know the difference? Isn't it better to let them know? Surely nobody who knows the difference would delibertaely get it wrong?

I notice that a lot of the people on this thread who are annoyed with the of/have thing are missing the apostrophe off the end of 'pedants' corner'. I am not judging them for this, but I think it shows that we all make spelling/grammar mistakes even if we also have our own linguistic pet peeves. I say this as a professional writer who trains others in writing skills as part of her job. I have a Latin degree and can be as pedantic as the next person about grammar, but it's all about context.

Most people come on MN for support and advice. Getting all Lynne Truss about things could well intimidate and put off people who aren't necessarily the most accurate writers but could genuinely benefit from this support and advice - such as the poster on that sleep thread who was mentioned earlier. From what I remember, she didn't return to her thread and seemed to have been put off MN for life, which seems a real shame to me.

I agree everyones posts on here are valid to me ...the perfectly written ones and the not so correct ones...To only respond to the perfectly written is not what MN is all about surely .If it is ,then the people who put it at no 17 on the smug list where right

Completely agree with TA:

"You should probably go find a friendly ear in Pedants' Corner."

I have sometimes corrected a piece of badly written grammar (even if I put quote marks around it) to gently encourage correct usage, but try to avoid outright comment on bad spelling or grammar, as I know mine will never be perfect!

There are dozens of phrases which can come to mind which clearly grate, and easy mistakes (loose vs lose) (borrow vs lend) which one hears or sees regularly, but easier to suppress a comment than cause friction, I think.

'Most people come on MN for support and advice.'

there seem to be an awful lot on AIBU who are looking for a good barney rather than support and advice. They certainly dish out the advice.

Everybody has interesting points of view, regardless of grammatical errors.

'delibertaely get it wrong?"
Even you spell incorrectly, just showing that its not intentionally or they cant spell, use correct grammar etc

but that was a typo (honest). But 'could of' is not a typo.

"if they can't be bothered to communicate properly then I can't be bothered to communicate back"

Which is a particularly snooty (yes, I did mean that, not snotty!) approach, if I may say. You are somehow assuming that an error was deliberate. Hope you never visit glass houses, or post while getting over some upset and make a spelling or grammar mistake...

"don't even click onto those threads"

Even more snooty than the first poster, if you won't look past the thread title.

"I dont click"

I only included this because of the missing apostrophe, as that makes you a wannabe grammar fascist and you failed the test

:)

:)

I just pulled some posts for target practice as we all have particular "likes and dislikes" yet where people are asking for help or alternative views it seems some will lose out because they made the grave error of using the wrong words.

I'll get my coat and asbestos suit now, I think...