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Pedants' corner

Could of, should of, would of

25 replies

HouseworkIsAPain · 24/10/2017 22:21

I’m seeing this more and more. I want to shout HAVE HAVE HAVE and I fear I’ll do just that in public one day.

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LoveMyLittleSuperhero · 24/10/2017 22:24

Thank you!!! This has been on my timeline recently and driving me insane.

Could of, should of, would of
paniconthestreetsofdreams · 24/10/2017 22:24

So infuriating.

Also people asking for 'advise' Sad
I feel a horrible snob but it's grating.

HouseworkIsAPain · 24/10/2017 22:28

That tattoo would drive me insane too Love. Is it a RL friend? I imagine it’s in relation to a loss so you can’t even say anything.

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HouseworkIsAPain · 24/10/2017 22:29

panic, yes people asking for advise. No you can advise me!

A colleague does this at work. Along with using less when he means fewer.

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Popchyk · 24/10/2017 22:37

You can actually hear people saying it also.

Fearne Cotton on Popmaster today, saying to a contestant "I would of said that". I know she'd deny it, but I know what I heard.

Ken Bruce would never say such a thing. Not a chance.

BuzzKillington · 24/10/2017 22:41

It's the most grating grammatical error ever imo.

I see it more and more on here and also on FB from some friends who I assumed had more sense.

That tattoo is just tragic!

Apileofballyhoo · 24/10/2017 22:49

Is there something wrong with could've should've would've in speech? Are they unacceptable in writing?

mommybunny · 24/10/2017 22:52

Apile, no, to the extent they’re (NOT THIER!) written as you have written them. It is when “‘ve” is changed to “of” that it infuriates.

HouseworkIsAPain · 24/10/2017 22:54

Bad Fearne. She should have (of) known better.

I don’t generally get wound up by grammatical errors. It’s understandable that people get things wrong and I’m sure I do too.

But this OF OF OF business is driving me up the wall. How can people not know?! It seems to be creeping into acceptable everyday use.

I’ll spend my old gimmer days in a nursing home shouting HAVE at the nurses and they won’t understand why. They’ll probably think I’ve been at the gin...

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HouseworkIsAPain · 24/10/2017 22:56

Could’ve, would’ve m, should’ve.

All absolutely fine. But they are to BLAME because people’ve assumed the ’ve sound is an of sound.

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loveisagirlnameddaisy · 25/10/2017 09:17

Agree. Fearne may have been saying 've not of but the sound is so similar.

mammmamia · 25/10/2017 09:21

Drives me crazy as well. Someone needs to start a public information campaign Grin

Apileofballyhoo · 25/10/2017 09:57

To my ear, there is not a big difference in speech between 'should've' and 'should of' unless the 'of' is really clearly enunciated... I can understand how it is irritating in writing, of course.

HouseworkIsAPain · 25/10/2017 11:52

I am starting to hear the difference. To my ear, ‘should of’ is being pronounced as two seperate words. It should be one flowing word of should’ve.

I think people genuinely thing it is should of, would of etc. They don’t appear to realise it’s a shortening for should have and would have.

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ourkidmolly · 25/10/2017 11:54

It’s totally unbearable but I think that tattoo is desperately sad and it’s inappropriate to have it on a thread like this. Poor parent obviously didn’t know.

HouseworkIsAPain · 25/10/2017 11:55

‘Mamma* lets do it, let’s get a compaign going! Actually that seems like an effort. I’ll just come on here to moan Smile

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Apileofballyhoo · 25/10/2017 23:38

Yes, if it's not flowing I can see how you could hear 'of'.

LindyHemming · 26/10/2017 22:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PerfumeIsAMessage · 01/11/2017 19:29

In the phonology of fast connected speech "could of" and "could've" etc would be transcribed identically. That's why the error in orthography has come about.

user1468353179 · 14/12/2017 18:20

I hate people who say borrowed instead of leant. I used to work with a girl who'd say something like "she borrowed me a bag"

Ski40 · 24/02/2018 23:25

Ah yes that drives me crazy too!

teaiseverything · 24/02/2018 23:35

I loathe it but I've seen people who write in this manner say it's their dialect, why does it matter and so on.

Maybe I'm old fashioned.

brownelephant · 24/02/2018 23:39

it's not even pronounced 'of'
didn't people go to school and write essays etc? were they never marked properly?

Megs4x3 · 24/02/2018 23:39

The dialect excuse drives me nuts too. People who say that don't know what a dialect is or they wouldnt say it.

teaiseverything · 24/02/2018 23:41

@Megs4x3 Precisely

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