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Pedants' corner

you didn't bring it, you bought it!!!!

29 replies

westlake · 27/12/2010 15:53

GRRRRRRRR I cannot stand it when people say they brought something when they mean that they bought it. I don't understand why this is so difficult to understand!

And whilst I am on a hormonal rant, it is pronounced AITCH people, NOT Haitch!!!!!

Oh I feel a bit better now, thank you (phew!)

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mylifewithmangers · 27/12/2010 15:58

Eh?

Bring and brought
Buy and bought

surely?

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purepurple · 27/12/2010 15:59

I hate it when people say lend instead of borrow.
The library lends the books, you borrow them.
It's not hard is it?

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westlake · 27/12/2010 16:01

you would have thought so, I am surprised how many people get it wrong. (sigh)

Maybe it's a lincolnshire thing? Actually, I take that back, I read it a lot on forums too.

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UnquietDad · 27/12/2010 16:01

Two perennial classics, but no less true for it!

DW's family use various verbs in an odd way. They "fetch" someone "to" a place, apparently...

And the ILs also use "stop" and "stay" the wrong way round. I'm aware that this is probably regional, but it sounds so illogical to say:

"We stopped at a Travelodge"

or

"We stayed at a Little Chef on the way for lunch"

No you bloody didn't! Little Chef does not provide rooms the last time I looked, and you didn't merely pull up in the Travelodge car park for half an hour's break!

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SmacSmackedSanta · 27/12/2010 16:05

it's nothing to do with hormones westlake the brought/bought drives me wild too and the haitch for aitch.
That and draw/drawer are equal in my pedantic list

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westlake · 27/12/2010 16:08

haha you've put a smile on my face, where the tin of roses had already failed!

I also hate 'learned' instead of 'taught' (I actually can't quite believe my ears when i hear this!) "that learned him/her!"

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UnquietDad · 27/12/2010 16:32

"That'll learn yer" has, I think, now come into the language as one of those deliberate, "jauntily" inaccurate expressions like "as sure as eggs is eggs" and "who'd a thunk it?"

It's said in an ironic way by people who know perfectly well that it's wrong... Unlike the "bought/brought" confusion, which arises from General Ignorance.

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lollipopshoes · 27/12/2010 16:37

I must admit to having used the "that'll learn ye" line in exactly the way UQD describes. Think I've used "who'd a thunk it" as well.

But yes, I hate it when people say that they've been to the shops and brought something. Did they not buy it? did they carry it around with them all day so they could bring it home? and if so, where did it come from originally?

aarrrggghhhh!

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Petalouda · 27/12/2010 16:41

ooh! Can I get involved?!

I've been waiting years to find people like me - like you!

I've got HUGE issues with people who say they "should of" done something, or "could of" done it. I can't even help myself correcting my best mate on facebook! It just makes people look so DIM!

But then, I'm a hypocrite and say the "that'll learn 'em" ironic phrase occasionally.

wow, that feels better!

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westlake · 27/12/2010 19:00

i wouldn't dare correct my friends, they'd be really miffed at me lol.

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Ephiny · 27/12/2010 19:04

I've never heard anyone use bring/bought the wrong way round, that's very strange. Lend/borrow and learn/teach reversals were common where I grew up though!

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westlake · 27/12/2010 19:06

you've never heard someone say " i brought it from the shop" instead of bought? I want to live where you live lol.

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tinselthechaffinch · 27/12/2010 19:06

yes, and people who say, 'I was sat down'

You weren't, you were sitting down.

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lal123 · 27/12/2010 19:11

nope i've never heard anyone mix up brought and bought - must be a regional thing?

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westlake · 27/12/2010 19:15

I didn't know the one about 'sat down!!'

Oh god, that's going to annoy me now too lol

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bibbitybobbitysantahat · 27/12/2010 19:17

Bring = present tense
Brought = past tense

Buy = present tense
Bought = past tense

You are mixing up what you are complaining about here ducky.

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westlake · 27/12/2010 19:44

no, i get it, but people say i brought something when they mean bought....i obviously haven't explained it well

"when i brought it, it was only £10"

no dear, you didn't bring it, you bought it

grrrrrr

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christmasmum · 27/12/2010 19:46

surely you mean to say 'no dear you didn't brought it, you bought it' then?

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westlake · 27/12/2010 19:48

lol yes, i was emphasising that brought means to bring.

blimey

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christmasmum · 27/12/2010 19:50

ahhhh, gotcha!

As you were...

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westlake · 27/12/2010 19:53

:-) i'm on the port now, it matters not

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Clary · 27/12/2010 19:54

Aaargh I have a colleague (I work in a school as well) who always says and indeed writes brought when she means bought.

It drives me a bit bananas but she has many many other excellent qualities (unlike me ) so I have so far sat on my hands.

It's not Lincolnshire either, tho borrow for lend may well be. I am in East Mids.

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UnquietDad · 28/12/2010 14:18

It shocks me how many of DW's work colleagues cannot spell or use words correctly, to judge by their Facebook postings.

They are teachers.

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coco2901 · 28/12/2010 15:22

I think I may have just found my spiritual home... Brought instead of bought drives me insane! I've seen it used on a number of forums but not often in RL, I live in Scotland and suspect it may be a regional English thing.

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StealthPolarBear · 28/12/2010 15:28

I know the different between bring and buy and yet I have just read this thread and all the words in their different tenses are swimming before my eyes so much they no longer even look like english words :)
Think I'll have to have some of that sherry I brought from Tesco to settle my nerves

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