To wonder how people make it to adulthood without knowing

[Staffy1]

That a Christmas tree decoration is called a "bauble", not "ball ball"? Or how they make it through junior school without knowing the difference between "his" and "he's"? What happens in schools these days and don't people ever read anything?

@Bella43

I've always wondered about the baubles/bobbles thing. I say baubles but my friend pronounces them as 'bobbles.' I've never said anything. I just guessed that her parents pronounced them as bobbles and so she's grown up thinking that?

I expect different accents account for this, but it's also a word that's been said in different ways at different times. IIRC there's a textual crux in Shakespeare on the line about 'the bauble/bubble reputation,' and we're not quite sure which one he meant.

I’m one of those people who just can’t be bothered with correct grammar, since I left school I’ve had very little use for it ,

Common sense and practical skills are much more useful to get me through life than being able to spell properly.

I’ve seen are used instead of our several times on here, for example “are family is...”

I’d never seen it before until a year ago, but now I notice it quite frequently.

Some people pronounce our as are where I live. As in “ are woman “ meaning my wife .

The one that pisses me off is Christmas 'reef'

Its a fucking Wreath.

@SarahAndQuack That's interesting. Yes it may be an accent thing. I'll have a look at the Shakespeare quote too. I do love a bit of Shakespeare. I've always been intrigued when she calls them 'bobbles.' I sit there thinking, which one of us is wrong then? This has gone on in my head for years btw. At last, a thread that is putting life's mysteries to rest!

Lots of Christmas REEFS for sale round here.

I had begun to think that His for He's was a regional thing, as locals also use Sin for Seen.

Nearly everyone born and bred where I currently live, use his and sin.

@YoniAndGuy

They are almost always the sign of a fortunate upbringing (probably with some fortunate genes thrown in).

Not simply READING then, in 99% of cases?!

'Cowpol' from a student nurse who has presumably seen thousands of bottles of it all with the name WRITTEN ON THEM, and has made it to the 3rd year of student training so can presumably read and write?

I can understand why people make this assumption, but no, it's not just reading. I have two children, brought up in Germany, so I taught them to read in English before they started school (at almost 7). Well, I taught my dd to read, and was amazed how easy it was. She was just like me as a child and learned to read ridiculously easily, as if by magic. Tried the same thing on my son - totally different brain! Both children got just the same books and encouragement, but they were just totally different. My son would make similar mistakes in speech to those he later did when writing, e.g. calling a hot air balloon a "hair balloon". Both children had the same very good German education and learned grammar, but he had a lot more trouble picking it up. My dd is now studying linguistics, my son is studying physiotherapy. We are not all the same

@Chumleymouse

I’m one of those people who just can’t be bothered with correct grammar, since I left school I’ve had very little use for it , Common sense and practical skills are much more useful to get me through life than being able to spell properly.

Grammar and spelling are different things? But that said, using incorrect spelling, punctuation etc. can change the entire meaning of a sentence.

I think one of the saddest things I realised was that when I was doing on-line gaming, the best grammar and spelling was normally from players for whom English was a second language, and the very worst tended to be native born English people.

My current pet hates are the apparent interchangeability of "less" and "fewer", which is now turning out to be the replacement of "fewer" with "less".

@Calabasa 😂 This thread is brilliant. I just woke the dog up from laughing.

In my youth, baubles were just called balls.

Hence the song 'Hang Your Balls on the Christmas Tree".

DD often changes words to suit her own (toddler) logic. So baubles are “baw-balls” and marbles are “mar-balls”. My iPad is a “high-pad” and a warthog is a “water hog”.

I’m sure adults do the same, which is why we see “damp squid” instead of “damp squib” and “toe-rag” instead of “tow-rag”.

Just as you wouldn't say "I of done something", you shouldn't say "I could of done something"
You can say "I had done something", but you can't say "I could had done something". Grammar isn't logical and we know it, and don't expect it to be.

@Nottherealslimshady

What's more annoying is misspelling someones name in an email when you've just read their name. My name is 4 letters, it's insane how many people add a 5th. Because my names not that common so their brain just changes it to a name they know.

Some people are annoyed by missing apostrophes.

i prefer yoof !!!! As opposed to youth . 😀

@AdobeWanKenobi

On another thread I apparently need to 'get a life' for explaining the difference between 'kerb' and 'curb'. You'd think with the never ending parking threads on here people might actually read and realise, but they never do.

That said, I once saw someone selling a copy of The Lion, the Witch and the Walldrobe. They had written 'walldrobe' several times despite it being right there in front of them on the bloody book.

The thing at the edge of the pavement is spelt "curb" in US English. So you might have come across someone who reads international literature :)

I thought a curb was a baby fox ☹️

They're are a lot of people out their who don't know the correct versions to use aren't thier?

They could of learnt it at skool....

Argh! I feel your pain.

..... but when you buy a box of baubles, it will say 'baubles' on it plain as day. The penny should drop then really!

This in spadessss! It annoys the fuck out of me when someone is selling something with the correct spelling right there and they STILL can't get it right.
My DH sells certain products - day in, day out and he still fucking misspells half of them. Drives me up the pigging wall.

Btw 'could of' was on purpose!

@Chumleymouse

I thought a curb was a baby fox ☹️

Ooh, what accent is that? :)

On Facebook I’ve seen ‘use’ instead of you plural - ‘hope use can make it’. Yous (you plural) is a scouse thing, but ‘use’! Makes my eyes bleed

@CustardySergeant - my aunt has no idea. She isn’t joking at all. She also refers to the many “Triantulas” she supposedly sees in her house. (We live in Australia. Yes, we get big spiders, but not tarantulas. They’re not native. Oh, and all our spiders have the prerequisite eight legs, not three.)

'Cowpol'

Probably just her accent. Unless you want RP/estuary insisted on in schools (pitch forks out in 80% of the country) I'm not sure you can pull people up for that stuff.

Cholmondelymouse would be more appropriate for this thread :)