‘We was’

[StripeyNighty]

Arghhh, is it just me noticing SO many people now saying/ typing ‘we was?!’

I’m on so many FB baby groups and I swear every person on there says ‘we was in the living room’ ‘we was scared’ etc. It absolutely drives me insane, why is is it so prevalent all of a sudden?

I’m not missing anything.

I am one of ‘these’ people who say, ‘I am sat’.

I am and was perfectly aware before this thread it’s not correct.

I from the Northwest and it’s very common here

I’m from - ha

Reminds me of 80s comedian Phil Cool talking about his teachers.

‘”Right, where was you before now? You should’ve been here yonks ago with them books I gave you from the last lesson” and that was the English teacher”.

Not to mention infront, inbetween and eachother. They are not words!!

I don't mind at all in every day conversation, but I don't like it when teachers, TV presenters or formal letters are grammatically incorrect. I fink there's a time and a place innit

This constant need to never hurt anyone’s feelings that seems prevalent in society now isn’t doing anyone any favours, particularly the younger generation who are all speaking like this because they think it’s normal…because no one will pull them up on it.

It isn't a question of hurting someone's feelings. It's potentially humiliating someone to demonstrate your apparent superior knowledge. Seriously @StripeyNighty nobody 'pulls people up' on their grammar to be altruistic and to educate them.

Anyway, glad I’m not the only person that it bothers, if it makes me a snob so be it.

Oh, I wouldn't call you a snob ...

SW also has a lot of people saying and writing we was, I seen, I done. I don't think it's regional I think it's educational. Same people write your instead of you're.

FWIW I haven’t pulled anyone up on it online or IRL (yet!) but if day, my 13 year old nephew started saying it (and I’m expecting him to soon as it seems all the younger generation say it now) I WILL pull him up on it because if you don’t, they genuinely don’t know that it’s incorrect.

How are people ever meant to be educated if no one is willing to educate them because it makes them sound superior?!

Not sure what SW stands for, but you're right, it's nothing to do with regional or 'colloquialism', that's an easy but lazy excuse. It's simply educational standards. Unfortunately if no one corrects them because everyone is afraid and feel they have to be polite, they will never know it's wrong. They go through life like that, even speaking like that in job interviews. Yes, believe it or not, I've seen it. We need to stop thinking it's wrong or goady or snobby to correct people. It's enabling not to correct people.

THIS 👏

How can people not see that?

It’d be like a big proportion of the population, including a lot of the younger generation saying ‘2+2 = 5’ and people just nodding in agreement due to not wanting to offend and sound like a snob. We’d end up eventually with a population who thought 2+2 = 5. Madness.

@ItsShiela SW is the Southwest, I hear and see a lot of it in Devon.

I’m afraid it does suggest that. As has been said, these are grammatical errors and they are made because the poster doesn’t know they are wrong. It really is that simple.

Dress it up in any way you like but you are in denial - or more likely just being snide. In reality, I have a vested interest in the use of English as I imagine others posting do too.

But clearly, people make errors (or use non-standard grammar) despite knowing it's 'wrong'. Just upthread, I pointed out someone had used 'was' when she should, technically, have said 'were'. She didn't reply 'OMG no idea what u mean'. She replied that I was being picky to insist on the subjunctive (which I was, to make a point). She knew perfectly well what the subjunctive was (or she had a very speedy google and enough grammatical knowledge to understand what she read there).

I'm slightly amused by the pomposity of you imagining you are special because you have 'a vested interest in the use of English'. What makes you think the rest of us, who disagree with you, don't? My vested interest in the use of English hasn't yet made me treat grammatical variation as a sign of stupidity, that's all.

Using bad English is no more of a 'variation' than saying 2+2=5 is a maths 'variation'.

I'm Team Regional.

Where I grew up, we never would have encountered We was, I seen, needs done, should have went etc. Where I live now, all are more common - but only in informal communication. They're pretty much never seen in formal writing.

The vast majority of regions and dialects will have some constructions that aren't correct in formal English but are established usage informally.

The problem is that with social media people use informal language to communicate, and you read posts from a much wider geographical area than you would typically encounter day to day in real life. That means you come across far more of these constructions and the ones you're not used to can be jarring.

As ever, being a judgey fucker is a worse look.

Colloquial = everyday non formal language. Dialect is regional.

Gosh.

I think most people are too polite to correct "we was".

It is a problem if you believe in social mobility. People do judge. It looks uneducated and so however snobbish it may seem, there is silent judgment.

It is fairer to children if you have high aspirations for them to correct usages like "we was" or "could of". Schools teach grammar at primary now which is good. A generation ago it was optional, and so people did not get the education.

It seems to me the only fair option is to appreciate differences, try to understand how language works, and try not to judge people for the way they speak.

Sorry, but I DO judge and I'm sure others do to. If I had two equally qualified applicants I'd choose the one who can speak proper English!

I'm actually shocked at the low quality of English taught at school in the UK. I'm from another EU country and learned better English at school there than my children are taught here .

I was referring to this thread, not to you as an employer, though. There's no need to judge people chatting on an internet forum. I can see that in some work contexts it might matter that someone spoke using standard grammar.

It is fairer to children if you have high aspirations for them to correct usages like "we was" or "could of".

Correcting your own children is fair enough, but correcting fully grown adults on social media isn't, in my view. I correct my children, but I bite my tongue if they're in full flow with an anecdote or story, because I think it's incredibly rude to interrupt someone just to correct their grammar. If they wrote something down wrongly, I would definitely say something, unless it was on a birthday card or something they had given me, as I wouldn't want to burst their bubble!

YY, absolutely agree. I discuss grammar with my DD. She's aware she speaks differently from me and my partner. Her accent is different and her grammar is different.

To be fair, op only mentioned that it grated on her, not that she holds grammar workshops in the middle of casual conversations.
Most of us wouldn't dream of pulling someone up on their use of language, but it grates nonetheless.

True.

How about "me" instead of "my"?
I was helping a friend prepare for a job interview at a university and he kept doing this. e.g., "I got me degree at Bristol."
Didn't get the job, unsurprisingly! Ive been told it's a regional thing but to me it's as bad as saying "ain't".