I heard someone actually say "would of"

[WinterKitchen]

I thought people wrote it because they say "would've" but aren't very good at spelling. I never thought people actually said it but it seems they do.

Definitely uv course.

I know it’s would’ve, I would always write would’ve but having just said a few sentences there I times when I say it and it sounds indistinguishable from would of. Mostly where u is an easier vowel to form than schwa, so it’s just laziness and accent I think.

It's not regional. It's just incorrect/ill-educated from everywhere.

Precisely.

‘Of’ sounds like ‘have’ in some accents. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Really?! Surely it's more that when speaking fairly quickly, 'Would of' sounds pretty much exactly the same as 'Would've' (but not 'would have')?

But most people don’t say “would have” as two distinct words. Hence would’ve. But yes. You’re right, would of and would’ve sound the same, to me at any rate.

Generally I agree, but I also often hear the "of" clearly and separately enunciated.

Because they're stupid?

They would HAVE been taught the correct way in primary school.

Addressing the OP, perhaps people write it nowadays (and it's really common) because they CAN spell, but aren't very good at grammar. So they've heard 'of', or misheard ' 've', and think it correct to write 'of'. In turn, people then see 'of' instead of 'have' written so often they think it's correct so they say it. The vicious circle perpetuates the mistake.

And another, later the same day: "... he'll of been embarrassed about not being able to swim ..."

Yes.

I have just read about 'eye dialect’, a term new to me. Slade song titles and tabloid headlines contain examples. I sincerely hope this won’t be a route to ‘of’ being accepted as some form of correct speech. It is already in the dictionary on the basis of usage, but for now thankfully labelled incorrect.

LTB

What does LTB mean as well as Long Term Benefits?

Leave the bastard

I have to disagree with this. My daughter was very upset when she came home from school one day during Year 2z. She showed me a piece of work in her English book where she had written ‘I would have…’ - the class teacher had crossed this out and written ‘I would have…’. in green pen.

It’s definitely an accent thing where I am.

It's an accent thing ime. People with northern accents say would've quickly. Rather than would have. most know it's not 'would of'

The auto corrrect clearly has a better command of English than my daughter’s teacher.. I tried repeatedly above to say that the teacher corrected my daughter’s work to read ‘ I would OF ‘ from ‘would have’, but autocorrect kept changing it.

most know it's not 'would of' They should know but they might not.

How shocking! I would have had to take it up with the teacher

The teacher corrected it to 'would of'?! Jeez, that's depressing. It's one thing if a secondary school physics teacher's spelling and grammar aren't impeccable, but a primary school teacher who's responsible for teaching SPaG....?

@thecatneuterer@TaborlinTheGreat. Yes it was shocking and it was the final straw. My daughter had had the same teacher for two years, and there were problems from the outset. This happened right at the end of the summer term, and I saw the Headteacher the next day to explain why I was moving her to another school.