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Pedants' corner
Original poster

"you was" from grown adults

77 replies

CoffeeShoppe · 22/04/2013 15:19

Why?

Awful

Short rant over.

OP posts:
noddyholder · 22/04/2013 19:33

My dp and his mates say it when they get together sometimes I am always saying to them 'Stop we wuzzin"

EugenesAxe · 22/04/2013 21:50

I can second HighJinx... DH is from Cornwall and seems to slip back into weird speech when speaking to the DCs in a kind of enthusiastically impressed way, e.g. 'Daddy, earlier we were making strawberry rabbit jelly' 'Was you my darlin'?'

I stand there with my SE England accent and correct him, saying stiffly 'Don't use bad grammar in front of the children, darling.'

DH did actually read this over my shoulder and his response was 'I don't think it's an inability to conjugate a verb, so much, just dialect...' He also didn't realise that he did that!

ImTooHecsyForYourParty · 22/04/2013 22:00

I hate it.

I'm not an expert on grammar by any means. There's a post on another thread that had me cross eyed with its accusative nominative something and its prepositions Grin but was/were is not difficult, is it? I don't understand what's so hard about it.

I, erm, may have once contacted the local radio station to complain about the dj always saying 'if you was at school...' about old songs Blush

drjohnsonscat · 22/04/2013 22:06

My Devon aunties did a lovely "he be comin' up over Widdecombe when he do see her from down yonder" conjugation mashup which I loved and which felt like dialect because they would use it with each other but wouldn't write it in a letter.

I think the "you was" thing is different because people don't know the correct version and so write that down to people as formal correspondence (that's what one of my colleagues does).

Trill · 22/04/2013 22:08

She'll be coming round the mountain when she comes.

That's what I thought about drjohnsonscat's comment about Widdecombe

schobe · 23/04/2013 11:20

Sacrebleu - lol too, love that mix of Frankie&Culchie.

Don't think there was a debating society in DH's school - not that kind of place. Other kinds of society for sure though.

SacreBlue · 23/04/2013 14:15

Just went Shock there for a min at DH, I'm not long on MN & for one second thought you knew what school I went to as those are the initials Blush

Once heard group of kids on lower ormeau calling their dog - named Frankie - bent over double trying not to wet myself to hide my guffaws

CalamityJ · 07/05/2013 06:06

Old dinner lady at primary school said this and as a clearly precocious child it annoyed the hell out of me. This was East Midlands BTW.

AuntieStella · 07/05/2013 06:11

Regional variant, in many cases.

TheRealFellatio · 07/05/2013 06:11

Yes. Awful. And 'we done.'

but someone will be along shortly to tell you that you are up yourself and probably hate the poor.

miffybun73 · 20/06/2013 21:54

I have no idea why.

Awful and very wrong.

Numberlock · 21/06/2013 07:44

Awful.

On a par with 'How's you?'

hollyisalovelyname · 30/06/2013 14:09

Aghhh.. 'I done it' and 'I seen it'
Constantly used nowadays particularly inradio interviews.
Also 'bored of' . Is it not 'bored with' ?

Onetwo34 · 30/06/2013 14:14

Thought it was regional. I never heard it, nor 'I done it' and similar 'til I moved to the south east.

hollyisalovelyname · 30/06/2013 16:35

Comes from 'I have seen it' to 'I've seen it' to now... 'I seen it'
'I have done it' to I've done it' to 'I done it' ... Grrrr.
So it's not just an Irish thing? Adults who should know better are saying these now.

mercibucket · 30/06/2013 16:40

dialect

bodiddly · 30/06/2013 16:46

Another bug bear of mine is I was sat there. You were sitting there grrrr!

carlywurly · 30/06/2013 16:51

Ooh yes, bodiddly, although I fear we're fighting a losing battle on that one..

bodiddly · 30/06/2013 16:55

You are not wrong and I am amazed how common place it is even among very well educated people.

JRY44 · 30/06/2013 17:04

It is not regional at all, as it happens everywhere. It what is heard on TV and at home - along with missing Ts (letter/le'er), F for Th (Fink), I done it, I learnt you, you borrowed me a pen.... And many more.

David Crystal (linguist and bit of a hero of mine) says the natural progression of English should be allowed to develop - but I think these are all things not corrected at home. I have tried with pupils and then meet the parents who FINK little Johnny is doing really well....

bachsingingmum · 03/07/2013 13:24

NW too. "I were, he were, you was, they was." I had a colleague I was coaching for a senior promotion who spoke like this, and was having to go in front of a panel of educated southerners. Accents are not a problem (we have people all over the country with a wide range of regional accents), but incorrect grammar is. They would have looked down on him. The trouble was that when he tried to get it right at home he was accused of "talking posh".

LadybirdsEverywhere · 15/07/2013 09:53

My dad says this sometimes. He's a senior civil servant who writes submissions to ministers and is himself a grammar pedant. His childhood speech patterns sometimes slip out!

lordleofric · 08/08/2013 18:25

Alesha Dixon used to say that on Strictly all the time.

But only in the first series.

burberryqueen · 08/08/2013 18:28

oooh it is not as bad as 'i was sat' or 'i was stood'

level3at6months · 08/08/2013 18:29

Iseenodust, are you saying it's the fault of teachers?