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.

That's the one! First correct solution. And sorry for not giving the letter-count in the OP. I thought it might be too outing of the answer, but no.

Hmm I write for a living. I don’t really care what anyone does on social media. There you go 🤷‍♀️

My pet peeve is use of the verb to lie, for example, I was lain on the bed. Or worse, I was led on the bed. There doesn't seem to be a person left alive who can use the verb correctly. I've even seen it incorrectly used in The Times and some official site, I forget which, but something official, eg the NHS website.

Always love a Friends reference.

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 ?

I don't think so personally.

Before we called someone. Then texted someone. Then with social media there are so many ways to contact someone so it became reaching out. Just a theory. But I suppose it could be replaced with "contacted" then so I don't know.

Before we called someone. Then texted someone.

Now we "text" people it seems.

Eta Whether it's past or present, it just seems to be "text" rather than "texted".

Yes, and 'I was sat' sounds like you'd been plonked there by somebody else.

Not a native speaker, what's wrong with "this often happens"?

I've heard an experienced senior journalist make the 'of' error on a national TV news magazine programme. They write for a living.

Yep - no it wasn’t …

Incorrect use of "I" when it's not the subject of a sentence. You even hear it in songs. I just can't help but find it extremely irritating, but only correct it at work. Between you and I is the worst of all, makes me cringe.

I hate it too. But the problem with correcting people is you can guarantee you will make a mistake while doing it. So you look stupid and petty.

Should I of voted? Suppose I could of.

I would see it as someone typing on their phones and cutting out words for ease, I see people typing in a shorthand style a lot and have done it myself.

Whole thing about language is communication and am sure people would've understood the point being made without the 'of'.

Infuriating! It seems to be spreading!

Ok this one drives me fucking NUTS!!!

Unless you’re Irish. In which case crack on yourself there now.

Nothing, it was my (initial) response to solve the OP's crossword clue, disguised as agreement with the OP about the rogue use of 'of'.

It gets my goat too. My kids do it and now my other half has even started saying it, as though he always has. Well, no you ruddy haven't. You've managed to say have for 60 years of your life.

What is the acceptable way to point these things out? I mean, I'd like to know if I was using words incorrectly, but if you raise something in a MN thread everyone tells you off for missing the point and that the poster might be dyslexic

I'd like there to be less mistakes :)

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

Public service broadcasts on the BBC.

This is madness, I tell you!

Why do you honestly care? In the grander scheme of things what does you making someone feel less educated do except make people not want to post something that they may have needed proper help with? As someone above said head over to pedants corner- then you can get down to nitty gritty and end up arguing with like minded individuals 😉

Some folk have way too much time on their hands 🤣🤣

My husband and I were talking about it earlier...