Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

611 replies

MeetMeInMontauk · 15/09/2018 06:56

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?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
BookMeOnTheSudExpress · 18/09/2018 07:33

The delightful Sydney explained the rule a few posts ago. (No doubt another 46 people will also explain them as well. Wink

It's predicted by linguists that number/amount and their respective uses will become largely redundant, along with the difference between less/fewer- which are, in any case, not nearly as clear cut as many think.

theymademejoin · 18/09/2018 08:29

@SydneyMamma - that's why we no longer use words like ye and thy.

I use ye all the time. It's the plural of you in Ireland. 'Tis is also a perfectly acceptable abbreviation for It is here too.

Language evolves, certainly. But it varies hugely too.

Noodge · 18/09/2018 08:52

I am in a group on Facebook called 'The intellectual lesbian'. I've just seen the group OWNER no less pull a 'Could of'.

I feel betrayed.

Gran22 · 18/09/2018 09:46

I'm pleased to say I now know not to use semi colons in a simple list. Commas will be the chosen option from now on. All thanks to you pointing out my error BookMeOnTheSudExpress. We can all learn something, I hope all the users of 'could of' read threads like this and have their knowledge improved.

Here is a mispronunciation that is so common I think a lot of people don't notice it. I've heard he's having problems with his prostrate. He actually isn't. He may be having problems with his prostate though.

BookMeOnTheSudExpress · 18/09/2018 10:14

A lot of people say that as a joke though, so it's difficult to tell when it's an actual mistake.

Similarly, my boss (born and bred within the sound of Bow Bells) says St Pancreas. Someone in the office pointed it out to her, and she said everybody from certain areas of London calls it that, as a kind of secret sign that that's where they're from. She knows it's not really called that, she just does it because she can.

theymademejoin · 18/09/2018 10:21

How do you pronounce St Pancreas?

BloodyDisgrace · 18/09/2018 10:27

I'm a foreigner, so when something is misspelt I often don't even understand the sentence. I'm not trying to be "precious" but yes, it fucking annoys me when folks can't master their own language. I mean, ever been to school? Noticed what was going on there?...

SydneyMamma · 18/09/2018 10:40

@theymademejoin

I use ye all the time. It's the plural of you in Ireland. 'Tis is also a perfectly acceptable abbreviation for It is here too.
Grin

Ye did make me laugh. Touché! Yes, there are many regional differences.

@BookMeOnTheSudExpress

I've been called many things but not often delightful and especially not when discussing grammar. Wink I thank you for making my day! Smile

You're right, the differences between all those words will soon be gone. They have almost already disappeared in some cases. It's impossible to stop it. A shame though as I like the complexity of languages and especially of English. I am certainly no expert (I make many mistakes) but I do like to make the effort to understand the "rules" to try to write as well as I can.

And whilst (or is it while?) I think of it, I prefer maths as the abbreviation of mathematics to math.

SydneyMamma · 18/09/2018 11:50

@theymademejoin

St Pancras

@BookMeOnTheSudExpress

I do like that your boss pronounces it St Pancreas Grin

pendeen123 · 18/09/2018 12:26

Don't mean to derail the thread but you could of course accept that on occasion "of" can follow "could". My own personal bugbear is people who use words beginning with the letter "r" - I find that ather irritating.

theymademejoin · 18/09/2018 13:36

@SydneyMamma - Thank you

user1483875094 · 18/09/2018 20:44

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

GrannyHaddock · 18/09/2018 21:32

Gosh! Dare I mention that "arguing" does not include the letter "e" ?

Blackpoolforever · 18/09/2018 21:46

My pet hate is in pubs when staff come up to you and say, "Are you alright there?" I usually chicken out and give my order but once I said "Yes, I'm fine thank you. How are you?" Totally confused the woman and I had to follow up with my order. I keep thinking up suitable answers such as, " Well, I've an awful pain in my leg and my friend is dying so I'm not really alright, but it was kind of you to ask". But never quite dared yet! Will depend how nice the person asking is.

Blackpoolforever · 18/09/2018 21:51

Sorry if this has already been mentioned as I regret I have not had time to read the entire thread.
"Mispronounciation" instead of "mispronunciation". Just plain ignorance. One hears it on the BBC!

Gersemi · 18/09/2018 23:54

Nothing wrong with starting a sentence with "And". blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2012/01/05/can-i-start-a-sentence-with-a-conjunction/

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 19/09/2018 02:51

'With' is a word that you must NEVER end a sentence with.

BookMeOnTheSudExpress · 19/09/2018 06:30

My only actual mistakes in your list were not to close the bracket and to omit one comma. But, I'm not the one saying how terrible other people's SPaG is, and how it boils my piss and how things (that are actually, factually correct) are wrong. Because if I were that person, that would be akin to me saying "Gah, people can't do maths today, can they? I mean, my friend kept telling me 2 + 2 was 4!"

I make mistakes. I make errors. We all do. To start a thread effectively saying "the people who say/write this are thick" is on a different scale.

Any sentence I may have copied from Google (and I don't actually think I have, but can't recall) would have been quoted correctly. I don't need to look this stuff up, it's my bread and butter.

I haven't claimed to be superior to anybody. I have pointed out how vile it is to start threads criticizing other people's SPaG, and asked those doing it to think, for a second, how the "could of" writer might feel if they were to read these nasty posts. A bit of reverse psychology does seem to work, doesn't it? Look at how humphy most of the "could of makes my teeth itch, why, on a thread the other day I saw..." posters when I point out their errors. Many of which are just as bad as "could of". I don't think there are many who agree with the OP who haven't dropped just as bad a clanger as using a "could of" while they pat themselves on the back. There is nothing "cheerful" about slagging off someone's poor language skills. And you cannot, hand on heart, pretend that there is.

But anyway... (don't start, you've already been told that And can begin a sentence, and so can But. Context and situation is all, and I would not encourage my students to do it when there are other words they could use instead, but it isn't wrong)

"did use" = emphatic use of auxiliary verb.

The dash is a perfectly acceptable alternative to a colon, again, for emphasis.

Any sentence I may have copied from Google (and I don't actually think I have, but can't recall) would have been quoted correctly. I don't need to look this stuff up, it's my bread and butter.

What a very strange extrapolation you make, that I don't work. I shall tell my school, the university, and my publisher that I am but a phantom presence. Klaxon- some people on MN live in different time zones to the UK, and lecturers have free hours.

But, to keep in with the lighthearted vein you insist is prevalent on this thread...you do know what the majority of MNers say about username usernames? Wink

Could you point out any grammar mistake I have made? Or spelling mistake? Seriously. I'll give you a missing comma and a non-closed bracket, though that's punctuation obviously. But grammar and spelling- in my line of work, I do need to know. Particularly as all of my posts are riddled with them.

BookMeOnTheSudExpress · 19/09/2018 06:31

And I will continue to "hijack" any thread where I see people being slagged off for something that is not their fault. Especially when they are not here to defend themselves. And even more so when the people doing the slagging off are just as guilty of the crimes they so vehemently despise.

BookMeOnTheSudExpress · 19/09/2018 06:37

Blackpool- oddly, the woman who examined me for my post-grad oral kept saying "pronounciation" and I was bemused, especially as it was a pronunciation exam! I'm guessing that in some dialects it is standard.

Gersemi · 19/09/2018 06:42

"did use" = emphatic use of auxiliary verb

To be fair, that's not correct when you are writing "I used to" as opposed to "I used".

missclimpson · 19/09/2018 06:46

The luck of the "drawers" sounds like finding something in your knickers to me. I am old enough to remember jokes about "winter draws /drawers on."
Also wondering what is happening to adverbs, as in "you are doing amazing".

BookMeOnTheSudExpress · 19/09/2018 06:49

Why not? Confused

Moononthehill28 · 19/09/2018 08:53

I received a text from talk talk saying ‘I hope you are doing good..’
Arrghh!! What has HAPPENED? I also lament the loss of adverbs. Why do we all have to speak like Americans now? Why do so many call centre staff speak with a whiney computerised voice with American accent?

PrincessConsuelaBananahamm0ck · 19/09/2018 09:07

Last Halloween, I saw three different people post on Facebook about 'Trickle Treating'. It amused me so much that I nearly trickled.

Swipe left for the next trending thread