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Pedants' corner

"you was" from grown adults

77 replies

CoffeeShoppe · 22/04/2013 15:19

Why?

Awful

Short rant over.

OP posts:
StarsAboveYou · 22/04/2013 15:20

Alesha Dixon used to say that on Strictly all the time. It drove me mental!

You are right, it is awful.

LadyMountbatten · 22/04/2013 15:21

its lundon innit

HousewifeFromHeaven · 22/04/2013 15:22

Because they don't know it's incorrect obv Grin

CoffeeShoppe · 22/04/2013 15:23

Oh I am not alone, good.

And.

"we was"

would rather hear nails on a blackboard.

OP posts:
CoffeeShoppe · 22/04/2013 15:23

is it London? It doesn't even sound correct though.

OP posts:
HighJinx · 22/04/2013 15:52

I don't think it's just London. I used to work in Cornwall and I can clearly remember a woman with a very strong Cornish accent who said 'What was you thinking?' so often it became like a catch phrase.

Being unable to conjugate the verb 'to be' seems sad.

iseenodust · 22/04/2013 15:58

Hear it up in Yorkshire too.
This one where the teachers need to look at their profession.

TheOriginalSteamingNit · 22/04/2013 15:59

There's apparently a driving school car in Scunthorpe with 'Keep Back - You Was A Learner Once Too!' on the back Hmm

iseenodust · 22/04/2013 16:00

This is one ... Sorry

schobe · 22/04/2013 16:00

It's a regional thing and I really, genuinely don't understand why it matters.

Gerrof · 22/04/2013 16:01

It is a regional thing I think.

I am a fussy judgemental twat but I don't care about this.

schobe · 22/04/2013 16:04

Yes Gerrof, I too am a fussy twat but am surprised to find that regional variations just don't bother me. In part it may be because DH is from Belfast and persistently has people treating him as though he's thick just because of said variations.

He's found it useful for sorting the wheat from the chaff though.

FoundAChopinLizt · 22/04/2013 16:05

Isn't it the same as 'I were int pub last night'. Just part of a dialect.

drjohnsonscat · 22/04/2013 16:07

definitely a London thing although obviously heard elsewhere too. It's wrong wherever you hear it though.

People who say it don't "hear" it as wrong so it's difficult to stop yourself from saying it if you were brought up with it as the correct form. As Coffeeshoppe says, it definitely doesn't sound correct to most people but if you were brought up with it you just think that is the way you conjugate that verb. It's a shame because you will definitely be judged on it.

DadOnIce · 22/04/2013 16:09

Along with "a'n't yuh?" and "i'n't yuh?".

WeakAtTheCheese · 22/04/2013 18:39

Ds2's speech therapist used to say it. It drove me nuts.

iklboo · 22/04/2013 18:42

DH & his family all say it too (Manchester). Drives me bonkers.

EvilTwins · 22/04/2013 18:44

Grates on me too, as does "I done..." which gets used a lot round here (Gloucs) as in "I done my paper round when I got home then I done my homework"

ggirl · 22/04/2013 18:45

It makes my teeth itch hearing it, really annoys me when I hear childrens presenters saying it.

Fuckwittery · 22/04/2013 18:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DejaB00 · 22/04/2013 18:56

I don't think it's a regional thing. I know lots of people from outside London who say it, and I'm afraid to say it's probably down to their (lack of) education.

clarkej · 22/04/2013 19:05

I'm sorry but it's "thou wast"."You" is second person plural so you are all wrong you middle English bunch of modern talking whingers.Although in Scotland second person plural is "yoos",as in "yoos kin awe gaun an bile yer heeds".

HighJinx · 22/04/2013 19:25

I do wonder sometimes if years ago people used to shake their heads in horror when people stopped talking about 'thou' and started saying 'you' instead.

Language evolves and maybe in the future people will be 'correct' when they say 'why was you sat at the table when you could of been sat on the sofa?'

SacreBlue · 22/04/2013 19:31

schobe lol! The head of our debating/public speaking club at school near had all that bad talk beat out if us Wink

I remember getting teased for going from mad culchie to 'propa' English. The boy & I reside in Belfast now and have settled in to a mix of Frankie & Culchie but when I have to deal with 'authorities' or speak in public I find the old RP creeping back in...

SacreBlue · 22/04/2013 19:31

*of tsk!