‘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?

Also " that's what I done" grrrrh

I ... do?

Sorry ... do you honestly mean that you think it is ok for you to correct people and assume a position of authority, but if anyone else does the same to you, you get to throw your toys out of the pram and complain you're hurt?

It is, unfortunately, true that people who are a bit insecure about their own education or grammar tend to be the keenest to police others. I've known professors of English at Cambridge who didn't give a hoot about non-standard grammar: because they knew it wasn't any marker of intelligence or value.

It's not a lack of education if the person speaking that way knows the correct grammar though. I don't write like that, I dont speak that way while on the telephone to people I don't know, I don't speak to my child's teachers like that, I wouldn't write an essay using contractions - let alone incorrect tenses. I do, however, speak like that with my friends who also speak like that. We tend to switch in and out of using correct grammar and incorrect grammar in speech.

I also make more or less of an effort to suppress my glottal stop depending on who I am in conversation with. People seem to associate glottal stops with being a bit dim too. This thread came back to me today when I heard myself say: "I seen the ho-wo-uh-bo-ow an hour ago, where's i- now!?" As for how I pronounce my "th", let's not go there. Would I speak to any random parent at the school gate using "I seen"? No.

People seem to struggle with the idea that people don't speak the same way all the time. I have a "proper" voice and and an "improper" one and they are both me, the same person, in different context and mood.

@SarahAndQuack I am sorry if you feel that I've assumed a position of authority and/or corrected you. That was not my intention at all.

I just disagree (respectfully) with your view that grammatical mistakes make a language 'richer'. I feel that such mistakes make people sound like they've not learned English properly, and I would always correct my own children.

I feel no need to share my own eduction, nor do I feel I need to justify my views. Suffice it to say that English is not my native language.

Thanks for saying that. I'm also sorry you felt hurt by what I said.

So that you know, these aren't 'mistakes'. They're just variations. English tolerates a huge amount of variation. Some countries (France!) take a very prescriptive approach to language, and police all changes. But English has a long history of interesting and enriching differences, which are part of the literary and cultural history of the country. Chaucer and Shakespeare make them central to parts of their work. To go back and pretend that all grammatical variance is error would be to damage that history, and that's why I am against it.

I came on to say what @Zaliea said above - yes everyone should be taught formal English and be able to use it when appropriate.

But to judge people for regional usage, dialect, slang in informal communication (whether in person or online) is out of line and demonstrates a complete lack of nuance. I'm with @SarahAndQuack , I think it makes people look uninformed.

But are they? I’m sure I’ve heard Prince William say ‘On behalf of my brother and I’ and he went to Eton.

The question is, do you think Prince William has to worry?

Pretty sure he's never said "Should of went." 😁

No. If that sort of person makes a mistake often enough it becomes correct. This happens all the time.

Or, I should say if enough of his sort make the same mistake, it becomes correct.

That was a joke! Prince William doesn't have to turn up to work and get judged. All he has to do the smile, nod, open events and think bitter thoughts about Harry.

Whereas regrettably the most of us must make our way in a world where judgment affects us and our prospects.

Don’t be silly.

😆😆😆

What's silly about it?

It has to be slang?

Not a big deal at all.

My in laws all say “we was”

”should of”

”you wasn’t”

”them biscuits”

I think it’s an east end thing, because they are well educated, but it makes my teeth itch.

Yes I'm in agreement too. I said upthread that I sometimes speak like this, with people from the same area (east London / Essex) but not in writing or at work. I have an English degree. Also two other degrees but hey, I work as a PA and have a strong Essex accent so would fall very comfortably into the stereotypes held by some on this thread.

I'm baffled that so many on this thread don't see that you fit your speech to who you are speaking with - it's a different tone and intention, not 'wrong grammar'. Everyone should learn the correct form though, it's true, so that you can switch when necessary. Obviously if you are from an area with no regional variance then it's not an issue that comes up - some of the Home Counties maybe? I think some of the posters throwing up their petticoats on this thread must have a very narrow life experience.

I'm in the north and I'd say it's an education thing, not regional.

I'm baffled that so many on this thread don't see that you fit your speech to who you are speaking with - it's a different tone and intention, not 'wrong grammar'.

Maybe because they don’t do it, and just write and speak the same way?

Honestly, if you do write and speak the same way, it seems really odd to think of doing one of those aspects of communication incorrectly, deliberately.

I’m baffled that so many don’t understand that.

I also think it’s really interesting so that many of these ‘regional’ variations are peculiar to the British Isles, the home of the language. Whereas other English-speaking countries don’t really seem to go in for all the ‘we was’, ‘I seen, ‘them oranges’ idiosyncrasies.

That’s not to say that other English-speaking countries don’t have their own slang and colloquialisms. Of course they do.

But they don’t tend to be based on incorrect grammar.

And I think we can all agree that it is incorrect grammar, since even those who say these phrases, don’t write them, or use them in a more formal context.

Honestly, if you do write and speak the same way, it seems really odd to think of doing one of those aspects of communication incorrectly, deliberately.

I suppose it could seem really weird. If you had all my family in a room together, you'd hear me switch between different vocabulary/slang/sentence structure/grammar depending on which member I were speaking to. Texts too, I don't text the same to my mother as I do to my friends, for example. I'd say, even the depth and tone of my voice changes - with friends it's deeper and more loose in the mouth, more forward in the mouth even; in a formal situation my pitch is a bit higher and the sounds seem to come from the back of my mouth.

Have you ever heard of "code switching?". I think it'd quite interesting. It can apply to ethnic minorities (for example African Americans and their use of AAVE vs. Standard English), or those with second la guaged etc., but also to the working-class and people with regional dialects that differ to RP.

Well, they do though, don't they?

If you look at dialects of American English, you find similar variations. I know many Americans who'd be familiar with 'y'all' as a plural for 'you'. In Appalacia, you might say 'I liked them ones' 'I hate them people'. People also say we'n and you'n to mean 'we and all' or 'you and all'.