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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to be surprised how many people write 'should of', 'would of' etc on forums?

122 replies

Mymblesson · 21/02/2011 12:03

I would've thought it was easy enough to remember how to write it properly.

Maybe I should've known better.

You even hear people using the wrong versions when speaking these days. One of my work colleagues is a bugger for it.

OP posts:

shirazgirl · 21/02/2011 18:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

Mymblesson · 21/02/2011 18:44

[waits to be corrected for skipped words and typos]

Oh I don't give a monkeys about mispellings and typos. They're unimportant and I wouldn't dream of even mentioning them.

It's just that 'should of' is nonsense - completely meaningless.

OP posts:

usualsuspect · 21/02/2011 18:48

Yep,SM if I faff about spell checking and the like I've forgotten what I was going to post in the first place

MN is like having a conversation its spontaneous

UnquietDad · 21/02/2011 18:49

It's shocking. I can't believe any adult would write this.

VivaLeBeaver · 21/02/2011 18:51

I've discounted a secondary school for DD partly because of this. In the English dept and there is a baord of pupils' work on the wall. The main bit of work in the centre of the board was a long story which in the first sentence had "should of".

How the hell the English teacher could not know this is wrong and put it on the wall as the star piece of work astounded me.

Psammead · 21/02/2011 18:53

I have been flirting with the idea of replying with this thread all day.

I had a lovely rant prepared, too.

I think for the sake of my sanity it is best to condense it to 'should of = bad'.

bettybosseye · 21/02/2011 18:58

An English teacher displaying it is very different from people having a casual chat on MN.
But maybe people make this mistake during casual chats because of crap teachers like that.

Wook · 21/02/2011 19:18

It would be crap teaching if the teacher either actively taught that 'could of' was right or never picked it up in the marking. Overlooking it on a piece of display work might just be a matter of knackeredness and/or wanting to encourage a student who was very weak by making a fuss of his/her work.

Crap teaching or not, you'd have to have gone around ever since you were a teenager thinking that everyone who wrote 'could have' was wrong to still be getting it wrong as an even vaguely literate adult- can you really blame teachers for the daftness of a grown adult?
My PSHE teacher at secondary school told us all that lesbians did not exist! I now see that she may not have been fully enlightened.

trixymalixy · 21/02/2011 19:21

YANBU, my pet hate though is people who say they "brought" something from a shop rather than bought. That is followed in a close second place by " chest of draws" it's drawers!!!!

Getting it correct does matter.

bettybosseye · 21/02/2011 19:23

Yes,I think teachers can take some blame for bad grammar.

VictorianIce · 21/02/2011 19:30

"How the hell the English teacher could not know this is wrong and put it on the wall as the star piece of work astounded me."

That depends on their display policy - many schools try to display the best work of all students, rather than all the work of the best students. I think that's good. Also, teachers aren't sub-editors; they don't (and shouldn't) correct every single mistake in that way.

It does amuse me when people claim that "schools don't" teach these things. I suspect these people know little or nothing about English teaching, or alternatively I'm doing it wrong, and I should stop teaching grammar immediately and start getting kids to study Dizzee Rascal lyrics instead of Shakespeare. That'd please the Daily Mail, at least.

bettybosseye · 21/02/2011 19:33

Maybe you are and maybe you should.

crumpet · 21/02/2011 19:34

Sorry, Quicklookbusy (especially as your post was ages ago), but having attended 7 schools in 3 countries myself, I'm not sure that that is an excuse not to know. Yes, by the age of 18 your education may have been inadequate, but what is stopping you or anyone from wanting to have a grasp of the fundamentals as an adult?

usualsuspect · 21/02/2011 19:39

Pedants corner is that way >>>>>>>>>>

scottishmummy · 21/02/2011 19:41

thats one bad ass dump i wont be frequenting

harvalp · 21/02/2011 19:49

It's not pedantry at all, it's illiteracy. Particularly when, as I recently saw in the primary school education section, a poster making the 'of' error claims to be a teacher

Original poster

Mymblesson · 21/02/2011 19:49

Pedants corner is that way >>>>>>>>>>

It doesn't matter. As I said, I don't care at all about typos, rushed posts, mispellings etc etc. I am simply curious why the use of 'should of' has become so common.

Now, it can be argued that language changes. Fair enough, it does. But 'of' and 'have' are so different in meaning that it'll make a major shift. Perhaps in 2211 amorous swains will indeed be texting their beloveds with the immortal 'I want to of you tonight'.

OP posts:

VivaLeBeaver · 21/02/2011 20:04

I agree that in a school an inclusive display policy is good - but this was for an open evening. Prospective pupils and parents coming to look round. There's no doubt in my mind that the English teacher either hadn't read it thoroughly or didn't realise it was wrong. After meeting her I suspect the latter - she came across as thick as mince.

scottishmummy · 21/02/2011 20:11

lol,thats good weegie expression.always makes me titter

Wook · 21/02/2011 21:48

I think it should be pedants' corner is that way

Viva I had an SN group once and they were studying Macbeth. They worked really well and I put some of their work on one of my display boards for an open evening. Not all the spellings were perfect. All night, parents came in looked at the display (which clearly said set 10/7) and remarked at top volume 'my three year old could do better than that' etc. :( I put them straight where I could. It was an easy assumption to make, I suppose- my mistake for putting the work of the bottom set on display....

QuickLookBusy · 22/02/2011 08:15

Wook, I hope the children didn't hear those comments.

Some people are insensitive souls aren't they?

ampm · 22/02/2011 11:25

I agree that the odd typo on MN isn't that important BUT, from the view-point of an employer, if a CV contains spelling mistakes and grammatical errors then it goes on the reject pile.

Why? Because the job requires written communication skills and a poor grasp of what is correct would reflect badly on the company.

So trust me, it DOES matter when so many people get it wrong (generally aged under 25 - what does that say about education?) ....

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