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.

ledkrs - I wouldn't blame the teachers so much, given they're meant to be teaching you! If you are destined to work as a lawyer, for example, knowing exactly what words mean and being able to say exactly what you mean is important, so I'm glad I was corrected as a child (and later).

I agree that someone coming on for advice doesn't need a quick grammar lesson on the side. I think most of the "correcting" on MN is unnecessary, unless someone comes on asking "should I use discrete or discreet in this situation?", obviously, but it is human nature to judge.

On an internet site, we are what we write.

yes but sticky,who says "may i go to the toilet?"especially self concious kids,language needs adapting for different situations,i have great success with my clients because i can do that thus not alienating them by soundind too"stuck up"
We cant all help our educative backgrounds i got english language and lit gcses but know for sure i make many grammar errors everyday so i either forgot or the exam was not thorough enough,i was always told it was extremely bad manners to correct someone.

suntangirl pot/kettle

The 'it's an evolving language' argument is always used on MN to defend poor grammar/spelling!

Doesn't detract from the fact that the error was still made!

Maybe the answer is to have a post filter on MN, only the correctly spelt etc would be allowed

oh wait ...what would the oh so clever mnetters have to whine about then

They wud always have somethink to wine about!

There's very much a feeling on here that knowing a bit of grammar makes you pompous, highly educated, therefore smug, etc, and not knowing a bit of grammar makes you the salt of the earth.

Yes it's "only" an internet forum, but so much reading and writing is done via the internet now, that it's definitely a factor in how people use language. I don't think the fact that we are on the internet means that none of it matters.

And FWIW I would NEVER correct someone on a sensitive thread. Even if they used the word hubby... Actually I don't think I have ever corrected anyone on any sort of thread, but I do join in general threads on language use like this one, from time to time. Although they always seem to get personal in the end.

innit

Anyone who wants to 'vomit' at a grammatical error needs their head seeing to.

Lunar - Are you trying to say that English has evolved such that "to of" is now a verb?

What does this new verb mean, pray tell?

Oh, Katisha, I think it's definitely worth correcting the use of 'hubby'!

i wouldn't correct someone on a threa as this is the internet, not a job application.

but it does grate.

so YANBU. it is 'should have...' not 'should of..'

"There's very much a feeling on here that knowing a bit of grammar makes you pompous, highly educated, therefore smug, etc, and not knowing a bit of grammar makes you the salt of the earth."

Actually, you can be highly educated without ramming it down people's throats.

Cote - my workplace consists of a variety of people,some highly educated and some who can barely read and write properly. Do you suggets I spend my time correcting grammar? I would probably have a formal complaint made against me for bullying or something similar.

Where does it end? Do we also tell everyone we come across that smoking will eventually kill them? ( although my 4 yr old ds does that )Do we tell our friends not to take their kids to burger joints on the grounds of being unhealthy? My pregnant friend was on a trip to USA and was in a line for a coffee and someone told her she shouldn't be drinking it in her condition. She told her to f* off.

Stop making yourselves feel superior by putting other people down.

YANBU

"Stop making yourselves feel superior by putting other people down."

That's one heck of an assumption!

amijee - no-one is putting other people down. Show me where this is the case! The responses here are to the OP's question - is she BU to get annoyed when MNetters put 'of' instead of 'have'.

Why do people insist on assuming that this is to slag posters off? Why is it assumed that this makes those of us who are irritated by it in some way superior?

Unless, of course, it has touched a nerve in some way?

And what are you doing, by putting people down for their views, amijee?

Sorry - I should have said stop making yourselves feel superior by correcting other people's mistakes and indirectly putting them down. ( and I know not everyone would but Cote is one of the posters that would)

No nerve touched santa - I got A's for english language and literature at O Level.

typos etc colour what we write

but yes I think in the future there is a good chance we mostly won't blink twice at things like should of or incidently color. Also we tend to type as we speak which is much more fluid.Hmmm "I being unreasonable to of" still communicates the meaning so does it matter?

Incidentally "AIBU" is not a part of the English language either.....

But AIBU is an acronym - it is clearly understood and stands for words which do represent a grammatically correct sentence ...

amijee - if I was trying to put anyone in particular down then you could rightly accuse me of being superior.

However, I know I am right. I can't help if that makes some people feel inferior.

My position is one of irritation that people can't get it right, and write using incorrect grammar. Nothing superior about that. I'm all to prepared to believe that other people get cross about me being anal and pedantic.

too prepared, of course!

... because I am so anal and pedantic

amijee - You still don't get it, do you?

Yes, I would correct people in RL and I would correct them here. Not for a one-off mistake but for repeated use of "it's" instead of "its" or "would of" instead of "would have".

I don't do it to "feel superior" - what a daft thing to say. I do it because when something is broken, you fix it. When there is a mistake, you correct it. Most people would be grateful, as when you point out food in their teeth (as I keep saying but you don't seem to be understanding). I certainly have never minded being corrected, in my native tongue as in the other two I speak & write.

I got told off for being pedantic in John Lewis today. I was queuing at the tills when ds1 came over and said to me, "Dad said to tell you that we are over there", gesturing towards the hobs and cookers. I replied, "No, you are not over there - you are here!!" which raised a laughing accusation of pedantry from the lovely gentleman behind me in the queue!