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.

Anyone who can't tell the difference between "of" and "have" in those sorts of contexts should not be doing tattoos. It's like having signwriters who don't know how to use apostrophes.

Currently sat here giggling at my own spelling and grammar in that last post!!

You mean 'sitting here'

FatherMacKenzie It is indeed a missing apostrophe.

I do use "of" myself because I think it sounds better with "could"

That's batshit. You can't just change the English language because you prefer how something sounds!

"If only our love could of saved you".
A tattoo about one of their dead DM's!
Please just leave this and if anyone else says anything about it, tell them to shut their judgemental mouths!

I'd have to stay silent but grit my teeth madly. HATE things like this!

If she does get it pointed out later, I suppose she can fix the 'pointer-outter' with a steely stare and say 'It's supposed to be vernacular, thank you very much*. Whilst inwardly cursing.

maybe they were paying by the letter, and this way was cheaper?

Itchy some people never learnt as children.

maybe they were paying by the letter, and this way was cheaper?

Like in Curb Your Enthusiasm where Larry's mother's headstone says "past away" instead of "passed away" because his dad was paying by the letter

I think for some it is not about grammatical errors, it’s about “talking posh” or not.

This is my ILs view. I “talk posh” because my grammar is good.

Some people really do not care or think it matters.

Reanimated not all tattooists got full marks in English.

You don’t need to have achieved full marks in English to be aware that could of is incorrect
If you’re in the business of indelibly printing phrases onto people’s bodies; you need to have full command of the language.

I knew a girl that got a tattoo in kanji that was supposed to say 'mother and daughter' but there were missing strokes and it meant nothing at all. One character more closely resembled 'oil'. Pointed it out and she blocked me! Tread carefully

I would hate to walk around with that tattoo, especially if there’s the risk that someone would point out that it is wrong and people have known all along.

I would rather someone tell me, then get the words covered with suitable imaging and have the correct wording added to it.

It could theoretically be correct though if it was for a MIL who always spoke like that and it was an in joke kind of thing? Clutching at straws here but it could be possible?

Oh dear. That would bug the hell out of me but don't say anything.

'Could of' is absolutely not in a million years on the way to being acceptable. As this thread shows!

It's AWFUL.

OP yes you must keep it zipped though. Argh.

Threads like these always remind me of one posted by a MNer a good few years ago now which I think has long gone... her ?BIL got a tattoo in either German or Italian which was supposed to translate as the Shakespeare quotation 'we will all laugh at gilded butterflies'. Unfortunately said MNer spoke the language and could see that the tattoo actually translated as 'we are all guilty laughing moths' - she was in agonies over whether to tell him

Oh Fizzy - I would LOVE to have a tattoo that said 'we are all guilty laughing moths' It sounds so meaningless and yet...so profound.

"The tattoos say 'If our love could of saved you'"

I think I would assume this person was a moron anyway and the grammatical mistake would simply be the icing on the cake.

I once walked past a tattoo parlour that had painted on the outside sign "we undertake your own desings" which I thought was a heck of an ad for the shop! haha

I do use "of" myself because I think it sounds better with "could"

That's batshit. You can't just change the English language because you prefer how something sounds!

That's exactly how language does change, people start using different words and changed words, 50 years from now we will be taught 'we used to say could have, but it evolved to of
Or do you still say thee and thou etc?

I do use "of" myself because I think it sounds better with "could"

Sure.

If by "of" you mean "uneducated".

If by "better", I mean. Fail.

It doesn’t evolve to encompass mistakes people make because they’re just too dumb to know the correct version. Why should we all have to learn to use a phrase we know to be incorrect to please the loolas who don’t?

They cannot be interchanged even if you think it sounds better. Language is made up of grammatical structures. Words have roles assigned to them. "Could" requires a verb following it in this sentence. "Of" is a preposition. Grammatically it cannot follow "could" in this sentence. "Of" is not suddenly going to change from a preposition to a verb in the next 50 years. It cannot be compared with "thee" and "thou" because those two words have the same grammatical function in the sentence as their modern equivalents.

Why should we all have to learn to use a phrase we know to be incorrect to please the loolas who don’t?

It’s known as ‘dumbing down’ and we’re all supposed to embrace it because we don’t want to be labelled as ‘posh’ or ‘smug’ or a ‘clever clogs’

I was following a council vehicle today. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.