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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Why do people get bought and brought mixed up?

230 replies

Starllight · 30/01/2023 07:41

A Monday morning irk of mine… Surely people know the difference?

Bought - past tense of buy

Brought - past tense of bring

As a side note, where I now live in Scotland I have never come across anyone get this mixed up. Perhaps that’s why it irks me when I see it?!

YABU - They’re both very similar and easy to get them mixed up
YANBU - It looks/sounds completely ridiculous when people use ‘brought’ instead of bought

OP posts:
GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 30/01/2023 19:47

@bakewellbride , I used to see ‘rest bite’ all the time on a forum for carers of people with dementia. But even to a pernickety old pedant like me there was some logic to it - the poor things were desperate for a ‘bite’ of ‘rest’.

Princesspollyyy · 30/01/2023 19:49

Fairislefandango · 30/01/2023 19:42

Because they sound very similar and, although they aren't very similar in meaning, they can be used in similar sentences. To be honest, I'm surprised you find it so hard to understand. Confusing similar-sounding words isn't a particularly unusual occurrence.

I suspect this another one of those threads where 'I simply can't understand why x' actually means 'Aren't people who do/like/buy x stupid/common/uncultured'.

They might sound similar but they are still completely different words 😂

StrawberryAnnie · 30/01/2023 19:50

I’ve only ever heard people from England make this mistake. I think it must be an accent thing, a common mishearing that then gets repeated.

Have never come across the misuse of brought/bought in Scotland, Ireland, Australia.

StripeyDeckchair · 30/01/2023 19:53

This isn't something I hear or see very often

BUT borrow and lend a frequently misused and it infuriates me.

JanglyBeads · 30/01/2023 20:07

@Princesspollyyy nope it is not the same people who can't tell the difference between the synonyms you list. Or at least it isn't exclusively them.

It's people like me and others on this thread who tend to get everything else grammatical / linguistic right.

Princesspollyyy · 30/01/2023 20:16

JanglyBeads · 30/01/2023 20:07

@Princesspollyyy nope it is not the same people who can't tell the difference between the synonyms you list. Or at least it isn't exclusively them.

It's people like me and others on this thread who tend to get everything else grammatical / linguistic right.

I disagree. 😊

HitTheRoadJackAndDontYouComeBack · 30/01/2023 20:25

He's and his

As in "his been on a school trip today". Gah!

Original poster
Starllight · 30/01/2023 20:52

Fairislefandango · 30/01/2023 19:42

Because they sound very similar and, although they aren't very similar in meaning, they can be used in similar sentences. To be honest, I'm surprised you find it so hard to understand. Confusing similar-sounding words isn't a particularly unusual occurrence.

I suspect this another one of those threads where 'I simply can't understand why x' actually means 'Aren't people who do/like/buy x stupid/common/uncultured'.

They don’t sound similar at all in the Scottish accent

OP posts:
Fairislefandango · 30/01/2023 20:54

They might sound similar but they are still completely different words 😂

Well yes, obviously. Nobody is disputing that. The 'question' was about why people confuse them. And the answer is perfectly obvious.

Fairislefandango · 30/01/2023 20:58

They don’t sound similar at all in the Scottish accent.

Well I guess that explains why people on the thread have said that they haven't heard Scottish people confuse them then. I can't speak for all regions of England, but in my accent they sound identical except for the 'r'. Are the vowel sounds in 'bought' and 'brought' different in Scottish accents then? I wouldn't have thought so, but I'm no expert...

Butchyrestingface · 30/01/2023 21:06

Dinnae get me started on what Englishers do to 'which' and 'witch'. 🫤

Butchyrestingface · 30/01/2023 21:08

Fairislefandango · 30/01/2023 20:58

They don’t sound similar at all in the Scottish accent.

Well I guess that explains why people on the thread have said that they haven't heard Scottish people confuse them then. I can't speak for all regions of England, but in my accent they sound identical except for the 'r'. Are the vowel sounds in 'bought' and 'brought' different in Scottish accents then? I wouldn't have thought so, but I'm no expert...

I'm Scottish and 'bought' and 'bRought' sound absolutely identical in my Central Belt accent, apart from the insert of a whacking great roly-poly 'R' in between the B and O in 'brought'.

I'd love to hear the accent of a Scot who somehow manages to pronounce them otherwise.

NowDoYouBelieveMe · 30/01/2023 21:13

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 30/01/2023 10:37

WWYD in this situation?

I used to have a colleague who regularly said e.g. ‘I rung her.’

She was very conscious of not having had the best education - her DM had forced her to leave school at 15 (allowed then) - she hadn’t wanted to at all, so I’m sure she’d have liked to know.
But I never said anything - too wary of coming across as a superior know-all.

What would I do?

I'd listen to what the woman was actually saying in perfectly understandable words because I'm not a giant snob.

JanglyBeads · 30/01/2023 21:15

On what grounds, @Princesspollyyy ?

BertieBotts · 30/01/2023 21:51

Catnary · 30/01/2023 15:31

Just saw this phonically-logical gem in my son’s school work- “Baecury”

As in the place you buy bread!

Show quote history

I love this. I adore little kids' overly-phonetic spelling!

Fairislefandango · 30/01/2023 21:58

WWYD in this situation? I used to have a colleague who regularly said e.g. ‘I rung her.’

Confused What do you mean 'WWYD'? Why on earth would you feel the need to do anything?

VenusClapTrap · 31/01/2023 08:02

Try as I might I can’t get ds out of saying avalaunche instead of avalanche. I suppose it’s a logical interpretation! It’s possible he’s just doing it to wind me up now though; he is an absolute troll.

CaptainMerica · 31/01/2023 08:40

Starllight · 30/01/2023 07:50

I have never seen or heard it in Scotland.

Perhaps it’s more common in certain parts of England than others?

Show quote history

YANBU. I live in Scotland too, and the only place I've ever come across this is actually in writing, on mumsnet. I've always assumed it must be a regional thing in some part of England

HufflepuffRavenclaw · 31/01/2023 08:56

RitaFires · 30/01/2023 09:22

I do think bought/brought is an English thing. I'm Irish and an equivalent one I've seen among Irish people is thought/taught because a lot of people pronounce them similarly.

Have you noticed a Scottish equivalent OP?

I think the Scottish (or at least West of Scotland/Glasgow) equivalent to this is definitely/defiantly.

People in Glasgow tend to pronounce the word deffin-ATE-ly rather than DEF-in-it-ly so it sounds as if there is an "A" in there somewhere. So why they type "definately" with autocorrect on, it's corrected to "defiantly".

I have never heard anyone mix up brought/bought in Scotland either as they sound so different.

Buttalapasta · 04/02/2023 09:21

I get it wrong all the time when speaking and I'm an English teacher too. I know the difference but I still say bought for brought (never the other way around). I think it's just slightly easier to say.

RichardHeed · 04/02/2023 09:29

A friend does this. She’s a teacher too. Shocking.

Buttalapasta · 04/02/2023 09:32

RichardHeed · 04/02/2023 09:29

A friend does this. She’s a teacher too. Shocking.

Shocking that someone might trip over a word every now and again? 😂

Bairnsmum05 · 04/02/2023 09:57

Yeah I agree, it's an English thing I think. Have only seen it on mumsnet. Also draw instead of drawer, never heard that up here. However we have our own wee oddities 😁

SunWu · 11/01/2025 04:50

Those who think brought and bought mean similar things or are almost interchange, when next you bring something, please ensure you pay me for it. 😁

Lollyloup · 11/01/2025 10:30

I know!! It's also like people who said come and came round the wrong way.

Like "she come over my house" no, she came over your house.

So irritating!