Of of of of of of of of of of

[BrickBiscuit]

That's the approximate number of rogue 'of's I have seen on Mumsnet posts today alone. 'Should of', 'would of', even an 'I of' somewhere. It is spread by repetition. Should we counter by correcting every instance we can, and enforce the correct use of 'have' by repetition?

Incidentally, my title is an old crossword clue. Do solve it if you like.

YABU: no, we should leave the 'of' people unchallenged;
YANBU: yes, let's have a campaign to correct each and every instance of the error.

The corrector was being ironic too.

Don’t be silly.
More like let’s have a campaign to have higher standards of written communication.
I’m all for it

I think it's often shaming or trolling, especially if the person is dealing with a genuine issue, yes.

I would generally feel mean-spirited and nasty focusing on correcting someone's spelling or grammar when that wasn't their ask. These things probably don't come naturally to them if they're still struggling into adulthood, so it may serve no purpose beyond demeaning them.

Fudgey?

What's happened to 'you're'? It seems to have (of😁) disappeared!

I actually saw a food company use 'loose' instead of 'lose' in an advert today.

But would you tell the person trying to play violin they are shit, so you would like them to stop? Would you go and tell someone that their arse looks massive in a pair of jeans, because surely they'd want to know that they look awful.

Like others on here, I see loads of things that make me wince (que being a particular irritant for me), but unless the poster is correcting someone else's grammer, or just being an arsehole in some other way, I wouldn't think it appropriate to correct them.

The thread AIBU was about whether people with knowledge of more standard grammar should post to correct usage

As someone who is not good at grammar that does feel like bullying on a SM platform such as MN. If I wanted to learn about grammar in the MN context I would actually post in Pedants Cornet, which has some non judgmental, helpful posters. When I have done so I don’t feel bullied.

It’s not a spelling error. It’s using an incorrect word.

Maybe it was a complex knicker elastic joke.

Were*

Not another one 🤣

My god me too. I fucking hate it. It's always the stupidest people who say it to try and make themselves look smarter.

It's probably tied as my number one grammar pet peeve with the should ofs. It's terrifyingly common as well, how are so many people this thick?

I wish I'd thought through your second point more fully, and stated the correct form more baldly in my OP. My title was designed to catch the eye. That seems to have worked; it really sticks out in the 'trending' list. If I had stated: it's 'should have', not 'should of' I would have achieved the freely-available correction you describe without the bullying some perceive in my AIBU. I would not have omitted the AIBU, but could have used the opportunity better.

I absolutely hate that, don't understand it one bit so am with you.

Here here!

Oh look it’s the spelling police it’s late I’m tired I’m not gonna lose sleep over someone using their they’re or there. 😂😂😂

Each and every time?

Including when they're posting on here very upset and asking for support?

Which has happened. Many times.

I think correcting someone when they're chatting is bad manners. Correcting someone when they are distressed is the behaviour of a thundercunt.

I had a very shifty education in the 80s, but have taught myself better spelling and grammar since leaving school. Unfortunately many of my peers haven't bothered.

So much stuff happening in the world - both good and bad. Does this actually matter, like really? More than any of the millions of thing you could get exercised and do something about ?

It matters to me. I get exercised and do things about things I can do something about. This is one of them

I just saw a post saying, "...they don’t seem to of gone too well,".

It's enough to put you off the point of the thread for good.

We owe it to each other to at least try to write in decent grammar. If someone has problems with that, there's something called 'gframmarly', which I see advertised and is free.

Yes, spotted the joke straight away.

I haven’t read the full thread but the one that drives me bonkers is: on the pic! No. It’s in the photo!

My pet peeve is less vs fewer in case that wasn't obvious

It was to me! The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

As long as I can understand what someone means, I truly don’t care about anyone else’s grammar in casual settings like forums or social media. This feeling is pretty common among my fellow professional editors.