AIBU to die inside a little bit every time I see 'could of'?

[MeetMeInMontauk]

Yep, it's another sanctimonious grammar-Nazi thread, so I'm going to get in early and tell all the bleeding heart virtue signallers who usually jump on these threads to do one, straight out of the gate. I'm interested in the experiences of others regarding what appears to be some sort of epidemic (at least on Facebook) or a near-ubiquitous grammatical blind spot in modern written English. For context, I live in an upcoming area of the SE but with an inescapably working class heritage and large council estate community, although this trend is by no means limited to the local FB community pages and is something that I see from even university-educated friends. How has 'could of' snuck in almost unremarked? Obviously as a corruption of the enunciation of the contraction 'could've' when spoken, but even then it makes no sense, if given even the slightest thought. Noone is saying, for example, 'Did you of one of my biscuits?', but the application of 'could of' seems almost universal in some circles. I accept that its contextual use means that nearly everyone involved understands the meaning and intent, but it's an inaccuracy that appears to be gaining continued traction. Does it make anyone else cringe, or do I just need to get back in my cage and chill the fuck out?

Escape Goat made me laugh!!! 🤣🤣🤣

Agree with lose/loose
Your, you're
Their/there/they're
Off of

I'm not perfect by any means but I do get irritated when I see it. Particularly in newspapers as they should know better. Journalists should know better (though I wouldn't exactly call anyone who works for The Daily Fail or any other tabloid a journalist).

I don't see any excuse for the basics when it's taught in Primary schools. It's also taught all throughout Secondary schools.

I don't think you can blame class either when it's literally taught in every school. It's not just taught to people who went to private schools or schools rated Outstanding by OFSTED. It's taught everywhere!

Me too!

Another increasingly common error is use of ´text ´ for the past tense instead of 'texted'; similarly 'cliché ' (without the accent) instead of clichéd, and 'cringe' rather than 'cringeworthy.'

I also hate 'Can I get' and of course ´ I was stood.'

The first rule of grammar Nazism is to ensure that your own spelling, grammar and general language usage are unassailable on the grounds of, well, spelling, grammar and general language usage. Have to agree with PPs that the OP fails to comply with the first rule and the result is a cringey mess.

It's riddled with superfluous commas and hyphens yet lacks same where required; shaky spelling, tautologies and redundancies abound and the constant use of qualifiers dilutes meaning and weakens the argument. Throw in the use of incongruous vernacular idioms (in an effort to appear to be down with the common folks) whilst sprinkling big words around (in an effort to appear erudite) and it's stylistically all over the place.

Should have tried harder to parse and correct your own written English before presuming to criticise that of others.

Mruphy's Law

The only thing worse than bad grammar is the clumsy use of language resulting in a bloated mess of a post... but what would I know, being an uneducated working class oik.

YANBU. Add in misuse of capital letters.

Ribbon - I admire and love you 😍 your use of semi colons has defrosted my dark heart.

I’ve just joined a “school reunion” group on facebook. It has quite a few “thank you for excepting me” posts. I have to stop myself from jumping in with “excepting you from what”?

Surely that's just a typo though, transposing the letters? I do it all the time, and have to proofread carefully. Some of them are amusing though, like Hastings becoming Hatsings or, my personal favourite, Peacehaven becoming Peacheaven.

That's a completely different thing from "could of" or chester draws.

Carnt instead of can't.

Ready to rip someone a new one.... Learn to spell you absolute moron!!!

YANBU @MeetMeInMontauk. I'm a teacher, and I hate 'could of'. Excuse the language, but I love this mug!

My personal favourite is Escape Goat

I think that's quite endearing. If a kid child said it, it'd make me smile.

I also hate 'we was' and 'I done'. I'm on maternity leave at the moment, but when I'm teaching I correct the kids if they say or write those!

Another increasingly common error is use of ´text ´ for the past tense instead of 'texted';

That grates on me.

I've also heard a lot of people using "texties" instead of texts. It makes me smirk, because it reminds me of testes.

I remember quite a few kids in my primary school class being denied access to the toilet because they asked "Can I go toilet?" 😂

I still hear people saying it now particularly in Devon and Cornwall.

Yesterday on FB 'suposter' for supposed to be

No one knows how lose is spelt lose (I must see loose at least 6 times day)

Do you mean “spelled”?

@Lakielady - It wasn’t that long ago people were bemoaning the use of ‘text’ as a verb at all - you sent a text (noun) or you composed a text or you wrote a text! And text was short for text message of course.

Ethan - start your own thread!

""Another increasingly common error is use of ´text ´ for the past tense instead of 'texted'; ""

I will always use 'text'. The word 'text' has been decided upon*, to cover written mobile communication. It didn't exist when all these 'rules' were decided, so don't tell me that I can't decide which I will use.

*I am aware that the word relating to text has been knocking about since the 14th Century.

I will a rule breaker until I die.

If "could of" or "would of" appears in an OP I stop reading!

Saying "lay down" instead of "lie down" used to be my bug bear, but worryingly "lay down" is said and written more than the correct way now

"be a"

@BitOutOfPractice

You can use both, I believe.

I’ve seen two wrongly-used ‘it’s’ recently. Both were on the front page of educational establishments’ websites.

Yes I know PlinkPlink. It was meant to be a light hearted demonstration of how confusing English can be. As demonstrated by the