WWYD friends tattoo mistake

[FrustratedBeyond]

Both my friend and her DH had matching tattoos today, but both have 'could of' instead of 'could have'... WWYD... Gently inform her to save a shred of her dignity or save my embarrassment to point it out and say nothing? I know its not issue of the century but Im interested to hear what others would do.

I told MIL about a grammatical error on a Christening service sheet she had had printed. I thought she would be mortified if she let it be used and found out at a later date. She was furious that I’d mentioned it, angrily announcing “We don’t care about stuff like that!”

So they may not even care. Lots of people don’t.

I think it is inevitable that eventually someone will point it out to them.
But that person doesn't have to be you.

However, if you are her closest friend perhaps it should be you as you would do so gently?

I'd probably say nothing, but someone will at some point

Oh shit. The tattooist is a silly sod for not pointing it out to them at the time, but I agree you don;'t want to be the one who tells them. Someone will.

Someone will point it out anyway. They won't go through the rest of their lives in ignorance.

I can't understand why people wouldn't double check the spelling of their tattoo beforehand. Or the tattoo parlour? Just putting that phrase into Google would have been enough.

Oh well hopefully they have No Regerts

If she ever says anything, don't say you don't know - why should you pretend to not know?

Why don't tattoo artists check these things?

There's no point in saying anything.

No tattoo artist can change a 2 letter word into a 4 letter word and make it look good and the spacing look even.

Could've and could of sound very similar when spoken but when written there's a definite right and wrong.

Oh dear. I think you’re absolutely right not to mention it.

No one will say anything unless they are the biggest grammar pedant in the world! I will be sending that person a virtual slap round the head if they do.

Oh well hopefully they have No Regerts

I hope so. People can be very judgmental about tattoos... but only God can judge them.

It was a tattoo apprentice... Hopefully that redeems it somewhat!

It does make me wonder if the tattooist actually checked with them/knew of the correct grammar?
So many people think it's "could of". I have no idea why, as when you see it written down, it makes no sense.
E.g. - I could have shut the door - if you remove 'could' then it still makes sense ("I have shut the door"). Unlike I could of shut the door, which becomes I of shut the door.

I'd not say anything - but she is going to find out at some point - it will either dawn on her or someone will just blurt the observation of the bad grammar out to her. She might react badly and want to go down the laser/cover up route, or she may laugh it off. Better not to rock the boat I'd say. I say this as someone who has sorely regretted a tattoo choice.

Definitely say nothing.

If I was a tattoo artist I'd be absolutely paranoid about running any phrases through a spell/grammar checker and then double checking again.

One of DD's best friends has a grammatical error in big text on the side of her ribs. It makes me wince when I see it, but it is not as bad as the of/have error in the OP's post.

Oh @thenightsky. Is it an extra / missing apostrophe?

It's rubbish service from the tattoo provider, apprentice or not - unless they insisted on that exact wording/design, against advice.

@frustratedbeyond - I hope the tattooed person isn't on here - they might recognise the thread and find out that way!

Well they've both seen their tattoos, so if they like them and haven't picked up on the error, I'd just say "oh wow, did it hurt?" or something. If she realises at some point, you can be sympathetic and go "ahhh never mind, it's quite common usage, I'm sure not many will pick up on it". In other words, little white lies.

Im hoping if she did see this on here, that she'd understand Im thinking of her best interests and not doing something that I may regret or upset her by saying to her face without making a decent decision

making a wrong decision lmao... My point exactly!

I don't know. It's tricky. I'd rather someone told me if they noticed a mistake. I'd be more upset if I thought people had noticed it, cringed and not said anything.

I don't know much about tattoos but it might be possible to change "could of" to "could've". Even if you got a tiny bit lasered off?

Language changes all the time. This will one day be perfectly accepted, it already is well on the way to that. Shakespeare's grammar doesn't always work today, neither does Jane Austen's. If some one points the 'error' out to your friend, tell her these things. If she says, 'Why didn't you tell me?' say because half the country writes it like that. What's the point of hurting her feelings?

If the 'of' and the 'd' from 'saved' could be covered up/disguised, they could have 'if our love could save you' instead.

There was a place near me last year offering "Langauge Courses". I both loved and hated that sign for months.