To think when people say 'Should of' instead of 'Should HAVE' - it makes them look incredibly thick

[Vajizzle]

Honestly I do not understand how people can continue making this mistake

I know people who are very clever and have professional jobs, that continue to do this

It makes me fkin scream inside

I'm equally bemused by people who post on this forum to query 'AIBU to think ...?'

You can think whatever you like. No one can stop you.

I agree OP. I lose respect for the writer as soon as I see it used.

I don’t let things like that upset me…

To think when people say 'Should of' instead of 'Should HAVE' - it makes them look incredibly thick

Oh man do I have news for you about regional accents....

Why are you sneering at someone who uses correct grammar? You're guilty of inverted snobbery as are many on this site.

I judge. Not that they're getting it wrong per se. But could've instead of could of in particular is not difficult to get it right tbh, so I do judge the fact that people don't bother to. I understand apostrophes a bit more as it does take a bit of brainpower and will to learn it, but will to my dying day never understand why people put them in plural nouns.

We are a strange country for not giving a shit about whether we get basic literacy right. And it's almost a badge of honour to be bad at maths. I don't understand it. I don't think British people get just how competent other nationalities are when it comes to literacy and numeracy, even in English.

There are lots of different types of intelligence, and not everyone is going to have the same education, opportunities or indeed priorities in life. My dad left school at 14 with no qualifications to start working. His grammar isn’t great, but he can fix pretty much anything that goes wrong in a house and his mental maths is astoundingly good- I used to get him to help with my AS level maths and he’d look at an equation and immediately know the answer (which actually wasn’t that much bloody help because he couldn’t tell me how he did it!)

I, on the other hand, went to Oxford, can write you a beautiful essay on philosophy or Roman history or literature in less than a day and have rarely met an exam I can’t ace. Can I change a tyre, reliably boil egg to my desired consistency or sing anything resembling an actual melody? No I fucking can’t. I once had to ring my dad to ask him how to use his can opener on a tin of beans, at which point he kindly reminded me they had a ring pull.

It’s fine to have preferences, but calling people “thick” because they don’t meet your narrow definition of intelligence just makes you look like a snob.

@JudgeJ Eh? I'm not sneering at anyone - quite the opposite No one has perfect grammar at all times.

Haven't read the whole thread so sorry if somebody's already said it, but are you sure they aren't saying 'should've'. It's when people write 'should of' that it looks ridiculous, but they might have only heard 'should've' and have quite poor levels of literacy.

It was intentional, as was the "less". I was just being a dick. 😆

@JudgeJ The OP is the one sneering, therefore coming across as a snob. Hope that helps!

Nobody is sneering at correct grammar.
I'm sneering at an unpleasant and goady OP not nearly as clever as she thinks she is.

You are not wrong OP. It’s not a difficult thing to get right.

The permanently offended thread police are out in force. They find OP so uptight and goady that they opened the thread, read all of it, then even commented on it. Some even commented more than once. Loving the drama, yet being self righteous at the same time.

You should of put this in the Pedants section.

permanently offended🤣

It's a grammatical error, mostly used in ignorance of correct usage, and not something to get into a flap about. Far worse are those who get a thrill from smugly pointing out their superior knowledge. Very bad manners OP; I would've thought someone with your demanding high standards would be aware of that.

Your dad sounds brilliant.

I open all threads where it's evident the OP is going to criticise other people's use of English.
It's entertaining as, invariably, they make far more, and far more elementary language mistakes than the ones they're complaining about.
And, also, like pp's comment about "would" becoming more common than "used to", these threads are interesting for my day job.

Is there an unspoken rule that those of us who have been on here for years are unaware of? That we can't open threads if we disagree with the premise? Or can't post more than once?

How do you know they're not saying should've, sounds very similar to should of.

I was taught to use full stops. Weren't you?
If not then you SHOULD OF been.

A fair few people I know speak as they write in texts including 'al' instead of 'I'll' and 'ax' instead of 'ask'. You can clearly hear the difference when spoken and it does make me wonder if they know the difference.

More recently I was in a sales room idly reading the huge banner signs encouraging you to take out finance. So many spelling and grammatical errors. I really can't see how it's possible, it was a national chain so surely it was someone's job to design them then I'd also expect the printer to check and flag issues.

@PAFMO No unspoken rule.

Although repeating yourself can become a little tedious for those you are corresponding with.

Hearing it spoken doesn't bother me. "Should've" sounds more like "should of" than "should have" in our regional accent and I probably wouldn't even notice most of the time. I'd rause an eyebrow if I saw it in a professional document though, especially if repeated, suggesting it's deliberate rather than a one off which might be a typo that had been missed. But I wouldn't assume the writer was "thick". Intelligence and educational level are far from synonymous. It would however cross my mind that there might possibly be gaps in their education that could impact on their work.
But I wouldn't assume anything. There was a phase where SPAG was considered unimportant in English schools and I have met plenty of otherwise very capable people who don't understand basic grammar. But that reflects where and when they were educated, not their brain power, and it doesn't confer any moral superiority to those of us who are older or younger and were taught differently.

@sst1234
Couldn't have put it better myself