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?

Shoudda coudda woudda 🤣

YANBU at all. It's such a basic error to make that suggests the writer isn't thinking even a little about what they're saying. I also hate the term 'grammar nazi'. I don't know why it's so terrible to want to read sentences without being jarred by the errors all the way through. I find it very difficult to read sentences with errors without mentally correcting them (might be due to my job though as I have to proof read so much).

Ha ha! My people! I hate it. Talking of Four in a Bed, there was a woman on recently complaining about a "dysfunctional" shower! Very funny.

Can I also add people using yourself and myself incorrectly, especially on programmes like the apprentice where they think they're being smart.

NYANBU. Urbanbeetler I'll be with you in the nursing home, muttering in the corner about the Queen's English. And if we have some care assistants who use plural pronouns our confusion will be diagnosed as a clear indication of our deteriorating dementia. Though I suppose that may give us a free pass on misgendering so we can still have some fun.

ProudThrilledHappy I thino defiantly is more of an autocorrect issue. People spell it as "definately" and then don't notice when spell check turns it into defiantly.

**Longpinkbanana.
Agreed

YANBU. Annoys the hell out of me too.

Can I add my own big gear grinder whilst we’re here having a grammatical moan .... the use of “sat” and “stood” where the writer means sitting or standing.

As in “I was sat on a bus” or “I was stood in a queue”. No, you were sitting on a bus and standing in a queue. Feel entirely free to comment as I’m now retreating into my flame proof bunker for the duration.

...... re-reads post to check for typos before skulking off .....

YANBU... Along with 'what can I get for yourselves today?'.... Grrrrrr....

YA definitely NBU. I don't understand why or how people apparently think that there's a verb that goes "I of, You of, He/She/It has, We of, You of, They of."

YABU and I am fed up with all the references to 'virtue signalling' too. Your OP made me cringe far more than 'could of'.

I feel the same about the lack of paragraphing in text and omitted hyphens OP- but you clearly don't.

I do love that Muphry comes into play though, though many on this thread probably won't.

And, please, before someone suggests it, don't go to Pedants' Corner with your smug rants. Though, to be fair, it has rather been taken over with the totes hilaires "I saw chester draws on FB" (may I suggest you find more literate friends on FB if it bothers you so much? Nobody I know has ever written it...) guff. We did use to talk about nuances of language, and how it evolves. Halcyon days.

Or “pacifically” for “specifically”.

Could of, would of, should of; draws (verb) for drawers (noun); different than (it's from); confusion of lend and borrow...

Clutch my pearls? I've just eaten them!

Also all my attempts at correcting my teen have failed. I think she knows. But when I correct her and say "could have" she replies "No, it's could of" to tease me. Which over time has meant she uses could of by default.
As Urbanbeetler said, the memory will be lost and the common (see what I did there) usage will win.

Yanbu
Also hate brought in place of bought
Wtf??!!

Everybody is very cross for early on a Saturday morning.

It annoys me too but you really can do one yourself with your “council house” and working class” sneers.

Having grown up in a council house myself I’d have hoped that the snotty nosed smug superiority that I was subjected to as a child might have died out by now. But it seems not.

Signed, a university educated, business owning, professional writing, council house (and proud) working class kid.

Not everyone has had a privileged education, and identifying the mistakes of others is very bad manners.

The smug criticism of others does not make you superior, it is distasteful. Particularly as this is clearly a failing of our education system and should be seen in that way.

YANBU... Along with 'what can I get for yourselves today?'.... Grrrrrr....

Missus, even my own DC do this. "Can I get a lift?" Where did I go wrong?

Yeah, it’s almost as bad as people using “snuck “

So what does the awful (but helpful in getting a quick sense of the person using it) term virtue signalling mean now?

And this:
'Truthfully?

I'd far, far, far rather spend 24 hours straight with someone using "could of" than 5 minutes with any person capable of writing such a pretentious piece of shit like your OP.

And you don't know what "virtue signalling" means, either. That alone is extremely annoying - as is the desperate attempt to head off justified criticism of your anal & narcissistic little rant.'

"could have" is pronounced very similarly to "could of" which is where the errors have crept in in writing.

could have (strong) /kəd hæv/
could have (connected speech- ie in the middle of a sentence with no emphasis) /kəd həv/
could of /kəd əv/

It's really the /h/ sound that makes the speaker make the mistake. If you factor in how many people drop their aitches, it's hardly surprising.

I don't think it will ever become acceptable, simply because it's a syntax error, not semantic. Semantic errors are more likely to be absorbed into a language as first a non-standard norm, then a standard form.

YANBU!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is like some bloody epidemic! And I'm seeing it on here. A lot.