To really really hate it when people use "was" instead of "were"?

[Sansarya]

Irrational of me I know, but it really irritates me when people say "when you was" or "what was you doing" etc. Does this make anyone else a bit ragey?

And yes I know I’m a grammar pedant and no doubt BVVU!

[MaidOfStars]

My current grammar bugbear is "good" instead of "well".

You played good, did you? Fuck off.

[Butteredparsnips]

I like it when it is dialect though. I have a friend from the West Country who says somewhen, which I think is perfectly descriptive.

Get quite irritated by our / are and their / there though...

[itsnotmeitsyou1]

Maid, have you heard 'Word Crimes' by Wierd Al? It's like the grammar snobs theme song .

[Sansarya]

MaidOfStars, don't ever go to Oz then. Asking "How are you?" usually evinces "Yeah, good" as an answer!

[rallytog1]

Yanbu. Don't ever point it out on a thread that isn't specifically about use of language though, or you'll be sworn at, insulted, called a bully and reported, even after you've apologised unreservedly

[silveroldie2]

I agree with all of the above but the thing that REALLY irritates the hell out of me is could/would/should OF instead of HAVE [grrrr].

[elementofsurprise]

My SO is from Yorkshire and for some reason I don't mind the regional vernacular. Eg. "I'm going t'shop" or even "I were" when it should be "I was".
However that's because I can't imagine a Yorkshire accent without those elements! Is there one?

On the other hand, I ususally find it incredibly grating if people say "We was doing..." or similar, because it's not a regional thing; it doesn't automatically go with their accent. I actually find it hard to follow what they're saying because of the grammar alarm bells ringing in my head!

However, it's still almost a regional dialect, in that certain parts of town are full of people speaking like that... so I guess my aversion is due to terrible classism

[MonstrousPippin]

I struggle with hearing people say, "I was sat" or "I was stood". It just sounds so wrong to me.

When I met my now DH, he really struggled with the difference between 'brought' and 'bought'. I was amazed because I'd never come across anyone with that issue before; I thought it was just him. Since then however, I've met several people who have the same problem. Maybe it's a regional thing as I didn't notice it up north but have heard it quite a few times down in the south west. Needless to say, DH no longer makes that mistake!

[SevTSnape]

Yes to all of the above!

I have to proofread documents as part of my job, and just this morning I had one that had used "are" instead of "our".

I've spoken to branch managers on the phone who have said "can I just aks your question?" MANAGERS!

Because of the nature of their job, I expect them to be well educated... Not just branch managers but other, office-based colleagues who send me poor quality documents.

[goldopals]

In my part of Oz people have a habit of saying I seen, and I done.

[goldopals]

In my part of Oz people have a habit of saying I seen, and I done.

[goldopals]

In my part of Oz people have a habit of saying I seen, and I done.

[Sansarya]

I agree with all of the above but the thing that REALLY irritates the hell out of me is could/would/should OF instead of HAVE [grrrr].

YY, a close second (if not tied first place) to my OP!

[SevTSnape]

Also, I realise there is a mistake on my post above. The iPhone app is quite tricky on being able to see what's been written on a post longer than four or five lines

[toomuchtooold]

It depends on the context. Not great in a job interview but it's common in many dialects to do things like that (my one, west of Scotland english, is to use the imperfect form of a verb in a sentence using the perfect: e.g. "I've went there before." ) As long as people are taught well enough in school to be able to tell what's dialect and what's "standard" English and are confident enough to switch between them if the occasion asks for it, I actually think it's quite nice. It can be a real disadvantage though if you can't turn it off, that's true.

[JeanneDeMontbaston]

A friend of mine teaches this by drawing cartoon werewolves. That makes me quite happy (and it seems to stick in her students' minds nicely, though god knows why).

[toomuchtooold]

Oh I do love a language thread.

silveroldie the last time would of came up on AIBU I "helpfully" supplied "would've" and got slapped down for being the grammar police. Still smarting from that! It's exactly what people are looking for when they write "would of": it's actually fine in speech, they just don't know how to spell it.

Sev I used to work in a large and auspicious branch of government and we had a very bright young staff member who used to grumble about not being able to say "aks" in press briefings

[Momagain1]

It's funny (strange) that inaccuracies such as 'we was', 'I seen', 'he done', etc, are an English (i.e. said by people from England; the home of the English language) idiosyncrasy, and not heard in other English-speaking countries, like the U.S.

Such language very much IS used in the US, especially amongst various groups who were poorly educated historically, and is a defining characteristic of the vernacular that black Americans speak, even if only at home or to their elders. So much so that some believe white people who use it are copying them (some are) rather than drawing from their own possibly even more illiterate, cultural background.

[Degustibusnonestdisputandem]

I remember being in class at secondary school, with one of my classmates swearing black and blue, when asked for his homework, "I ain't got none". To which the teacher kept replying, "Well then, you must have some". Said student was getting increasingly frustrated with this, "I told you, I AIN'T GOT NONE"

[SunnyBaudelaire]

" who used to grumble about not being able to say "aks" in press briefings "

Interestingly it always WAS pron 'aks' even in Shakespeare's time.

And those complaining about the use of 'yous' this plural pronoun is just what is lacking in English, unlike Gaelic, Cymraeg etc!

[JeanneDeMontbaston]

It's 'axed' in some dialects before that. Which I quite like.

I like y'all, too.

[SunnyBaudelaire]

axed and y'all are superb! y'all is really really useful, as is 'youse'

[DrankSangriaInThePark]

Big difference between discussing grammar errors that grate in general, like on this thread, and pointing them out to the person who has made them, wouldn't you say?
'if I was.....' is (sadly IMO) now considered to be just as correct as 'if I were' by the various examining bodies btw.

[JeanneDeMontbaston]

YY, I like 'youse'.

And yes, drank, I agree (on both counts).

[WipsGlitter]

I seen
I done
People have went to... when it should be people have gone to

All drive me mad and yes, i judge these people shamelessly.