Tinder match just corrected my grammar

[FanGirlX]

I wrote "could have", he informed me it should be "could of".

Think he was trying to be clever 🤣.

@ErrolTheDragon

He's going to loose you, isn't he?

😁😂

I reckon it's a test. He wants to see how you handle it. I find it hard to believe someone would correct someone's grammar in this setting regardless of whether he is write or wrong.

So my answer would be along the lines of ....'Your having a laf'

If he corrects that then ..

Am waiting for people to correct my gramma

@Jewel1968

I reckon it's a test. He wants to see how you handle it. I find it hard to believe someone would correct someone's grammar in this setting regardless of whether he is write or wrong.

So my answer would be along the lines of ....'Your having a laf'

If he corrects that then ..

If it's his idea of a 'test', then he's still being a twit.

@pinkyredrose

Similarly, napkin and apron are both from the same root, but we say apron because people wrongly thought “a napron” was “an apron”. Now apron is correct but we still have napkin.

Say what?

QueenPeony I'd just stop if i were you!

That is true. It's well documented.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apron#:~:text=An%20apron%20is%20a%20garment%20that%20is%20worn,%22an%20apron%22%2C%20through%20a%20linguistics%20process%20called%20rebracketing.

@ErrolTheDragon yep agree if it is a test it is a sub optimal approach to dating

Words mutating over time certainly happens, sometimes due to mishearing - but using the wrong part of speech in writing is simply illiterate. In some cases mistakes are benign, but in others they can cause confusion.

Errol absolutely. But if they don't cause confusion (or not enough to be a big problem), and become widely used, then they have a chance of becoming the norm / documented as correct, even if they were originally incorrect.

That's all I'm saying. I can see how "could of" happens and I suspect it could become acceptable usage eventually. Arguments about how and why it's wrong don't change this.

Nonetheless, right now it is wrong, and correcting people like that is rude, so on two counts date bloke is a twonk.

I get your point now @QueenPeony.

What are your intentions @FanGirlX? Have you chosen the best quip?

@Ginandplatonic

“Off of” is US usage isn’t it? They often add random prepositions (eg visit with), or sometimes leave them out (eg to write someone).

I don’t see how this can possibly be a joke unless in the context of a previous conversation about grammar (or he’s on MN and knows she is too!).

Ah, yes, glad you mentioned this.

On true crime shows they are always saying things like ‘I don’t know where she is at’

What is the “at” doing there?

With the 'at', I suppose because you would say 'she is at the shop', so in theory, 'where is she at' makes sense in that context.

But it seems to be used more to mean 'what is her position on this?' or 'where on earth has she got to'.

'Off of' seems to be really taking off at the moment, as well as 'based off'.

@Jewel1968

Am waiting for people to correct my gramma

regardless of whether he is write or wrong.

Would somebody please put 'off of' into an American sentence for me, because I really can't figure it out!

'Off of' seems to be really taking off at the moment, as well as 'based off'.

As does 'around'. 'Based around'.
'What are your views around this?'
Mark Bowden for example (the only Brit on The Behaviour Panel) barely uses any other prepositions.

@BaronessBomburst

Would somebody please put 'off of' into an American sentence for me, because I really can't figure it out!

I don;t think it's just a US usage at all, I think it's colloquial in several parts of the UK and Ireland. It's used, for instance in Roddy Doyle's Barrytown trilogy set in a working-class Dublin suburb, and in Alan Warner's Morvern Callar, set in a fictionalised (I think) Oban with a WC first-person narrator.

@BaronessBomburst, it's used for 'off' eg. 'Look it's him off of the telly!' or 'I pushed him off of the bench'.

It doesn't bother me either way, though I wouldn't use it in writing, unless it was in dialogue for a character who would say that.

That's so funny!

I think @FanGirlX has discovered he wasn't joking but went on a date with him anyway because he was incredibly good-looking in his photo. She has now completely fallen for Mr Grammar No-No, and feels it would be a tad ticklish to come back and admit this to people who would make her hand back her Pedants' Corner membership badge.

I think there are two possibilities:

• He meant it seriously and he is an idiot who is so sure of his own wrong opinion that it didn't even occur to him that he is wrong - delete and block.
• He was joking and is so sure that you would be able to read between the lines and understand that it was a joke, that he is already feeling the chemistry. Plus he is a fellow pedant. A match made in heaven!

You have to find out which it is!

Thank you @Farrandau

I went back with:

"Just out of interest, what do you call an item of furniture, usually found in a bedroom, used to store socks, t-shirts etc"

He probably thinks I'm nuts but he hasn't blocked me yet.

You mentioned the word 'bedroom', so he clearly thinks it's some obscure form of sexting!

Lovely response.

🤣