‘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?

Is that not ain't?

Never hear or see "we was" up here (I'm between Newcastle and Northumberland) I always associate it with a thick London accent or Essex accent.

What part of the North do you mean?

I've lived here my whole life and never heard this from a local

It sounds so uneducated, sorry.

I find accents interesting too. And you can't blame people for learning what they heard growing up.. That is how language works!

My friend who was born and raised around London says "was" instead of "were"

Oh yes, I've been really annoyed recently as I've been offered advice on delivering vocabulary lessons by TAs that can't speak properly & say "we was", "I were" etc.
Er, no thanks.
This is never picked up on by senior staff either, I think they're scared of offending anyone.
And don't start me on spelling.

That one's not very new - I was hearing it at least 15 years ago (example: at a training event, a presenter said "Give your feedback sheets to myself").

Even worse is when people say "Myself and X are going to..."

Oh I can't stand it. Along with 'I seen him/it/her'. There was a thread recently and a poster mentioned a teacher who spoke using 'we was' and 'I seen' but would write using the correct tenses. I couldn't understand that. Why would you willing want to sound a bit thick if you knew the correct tenses?

I agree op. If I hear someone say ut with a regional accent e.g a Bristol or cockney accent it doesn't sound so bad but I cannot stand seeing it written down.

It annoys me too and I’m beginning to think it’s not because people do not know how to speak properly but more a fitting in issue. A bit like teen slang.

My pet hate is,”I borrowed my friend some money”.No you didn’t,you LENT your friend some money..

Teachers should be speaking up on this: Teachers' Standards 3c requires that teachers 'demonstrate an understanding of and take responsibility for promoting high standards of literacy, articulacy and the correct use of standard
English, whatever the teacher’s specialist subject.'

Reminds me of this by Henning Wehn

Think you are mixing me up with another poster - I never suggested it was incorrect; I said I loved it!

(I'm a medievalist; there is very little you could tell me about Middle English, and it's why I don't get hung up on ideas about what is 'correct' and what is 'incorrect'.)

My colleague says this all the time. After working alongside her for 15 years I've found myself saying it too. Every time I notice myself using "we was" I give myself a huge mental slap!

Perhaps I've only just started to notice it. But it's incredibly annoying. I feel like people say it to try and sound clever, but it just has the opposite effect!

My mil is very quick to criticise other people's grammar but says 'give it me' and it winds me up so much!

Not in her accent, no - it's a real snapped-off 'ent'!

Though, you've reminded me of the bit in one of (IIRC) Noel Streatfield's books where the very posh, late Victorian grandmother says 'ain't' and the author explains that this was a fashionable mispronunciation when the grandmother was young. Funny to think it was once seen as classy!

I’m a Lancastrian and it’s definitely not regional dialect where I come from.

That's why I stay away from fb baby groups 😂

I was sat in the car. No, unless someone placed you there you were sitting.

I saw Henning Wehn do stand up on Sunday and he joked about this. He said he knew he’d finally fully assimilated when he stopped using school boy English ‘I was, you were, he/she was, they were’ and started saying ‘I was, we was, they was’ 😂

It's just a lowering of standards, dressed up as the language 'evolving'.

I work in an educational setting and I cringe when I hear ‘Them things …’
I shudder at We was too!

I also cringe at ….
I need to go Asda.
I need to go gym.

What happened to the word ‘to’ ????

I need to go toilet …. Ahhhh

I am 32 and it seems even elders around me have adopted this odd sentence structure.

But the one thing I hate the most is - ain’t.

I ain’t putting up with that . It is absolutely the worst !!!

My children are still young but I pull them up and will never stop as they get older as I feel it is essential to stop this awful grammar .