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?

Yadnbu. Some Facebook pages are unreadable.

Thethird- "new" has never had a diphthong. It's a semi-vowel followed by a long vowel. I'll grant that in many (perfectly correct and standard) regional/national pronunciations, the semi-vowel sometimes isn't used.

A lot of people from my part of the world (NE England) are guilty of this. They type as they speak. Some of them (not all) write "hes" instead of "his". Also "ano" instead of "I know" is a huge pet peeve.

Is “hence why” correct? I see it all the time on mumsnet and it seems wrong, but “every one of them is” also seems wrong and I know it’s right!

Also “that’s so cringe” - isn’t it cringeworthy with cringe being a verb?

I don’t make assumptions any more but these two seem to be used a lot round here in particular. Many of the other ones mentioned are very common mistakes I’ve seen elsewhere for years.

Yanbu

My peeve is the phrase “that will learn them” No No No that will teach them.

"Hence why" isn't correct, no.

Hence means" this is why"/thus/so etc. .

I couldn't agree more. It boils my blood. Should of, would of, could of is unbelievably idiotic. Also 90% of FB users use "your" instead of you're. Every single time.

I always say could have, would have, should have. Is that the correct way then?

Oh yes, this is most definitely of if my pet peeves sling with “Chester draws”, the wrong use of “with” (as in “come with” leaving out you, me, them, us etc). Lastly it’s the lack of any grammar. Whole threads without any punctuation, sentence structure and using bizarre abbreviations (an, n etc instead of actually typing and)

Odd spelling errors or weird words occasionally inserted are not a big issue as I’m sure many of us have issues with our mobiles randomly inserting different words than we have actually typed.

'Off of' as in 'get off of the grass' - nooooooooooooo!
There's a Five song that's full of it and every time I hear it I end up swearing and 'off, it's off, not off of, ffs'.

Oh I hate it too!!! Along with "can I get?..." and when you ask "how are you?" And the reply is "I'm good". . I want to scream "at what?! Good at what?"!!!!

OftenHangry

Pobodies nerfect..

"Can I lend your pencil"...

Yadnbu. Some Facebook pages are unreadable

I’ve just moved and joined the local facebook page. Big city.

Some of the posts don't just have grammatical or spelling errors, they’re bordering on illiteracy. Every so often someone throws a tantrum about people asking inane questions and the use of google, but I don’t think these people can string enough of a correct sentence together to get anything useful out of a search engine.

I think it is less of an issue these days to have a certain standard of written english. I have to say though, in certain situations like cv’s and business promotional materials, if people cba to proofread something that gives such an important first impression then that is a problem.

I can’t bare it

I hate it and don’t agree with the assertion that it will make its way into common usage/the dictionary. It doesn’t make sense.

CVs doesn’t have an apostrophe 😆

When people say “when was you here”, instead of “when were you here”. It makes me cringe every single time.

Looks like I kicked the hornet's nest here, then. I see that many are in agreement, but to correct some of the more reactionary and egregiously erroneous assumptions about me, I have no sense of superiority over the working classes. If you carefully reread my OP, you will see no value judgements made anywhere, and class and council estates were only even mentioned as an irrefutable reflection of the local demographic. As I said, the points I've observed cross class divides quite comfortably, which makes it all the more noticeable. And to all those achingly cool counter-culture types bleating on about how draconian it is to point out the mistakes of others, have a #sorrynotsorry on the house. Perhaps it makes me look like a dick, but I for one won't idly sit by and watch the house burn down around me.

Chester draws, though. Not seen that one 😂

YABU. I'm 41. I remember very clearly when I was corrected on using could/should/would of. I was Yr11 and my history teacher corrected multiple uses of it in an essay I'd written. If it hadn't been pointed out to me then, I doubt I would've realised and would probably still be doing so now.

My parents did pick me on on my pronunciation of things, we lived in Essex but neither of them were from the area. They didn't check essays I wrote for school so they wouldn't have been aware.

Not sure if this has been mentioned but the one that really annoys me is ‘generally’ being used in place of ‘genuinely’.

A few people I know type "discusting" on FB. Almost as bad as cerstificate? Pacifically?

Bluesheep8 I couldn't agree more and happymummy12345 yes you're correct.

You lost me when you used "virtue signallers" as some kind of oh-so-witty insult. The term is tired and has lost all meaning if it ever had one.

And yeah, you do look like kind of a dick with your last post. Look at me, I use big words on the internet! Aren't I impressive?

Ect. I'm just adding that one in.