Nivea ad "would of"

[UnquietDad]

I hear there is - prepare to shudder - an actual printed, proper Nivea For Men ad on the Tube, and I assume elsewhere, which starts with the words:

"Who would of thought....?"

aaaaaaagh!!

I mean, it's bad enough when your usual clutch of ill-educated twentysomethings get this wrong, but are we seriously expected to believe that at no stage in this poster's production, given all the people whose eyes it must have passed under, did it occur to anyone to say, "er, that's not right" ?

I intend to boycott Nivea products.

Of course, we will get the usual bunch of barmy whingers saying that "language changes" and so on. But it shouldn't change through pure, simple, stupid ignorance.

Would give a whole new meaning to heartburn.

That's dreadful. Would of. argh!

Hearsay, UQD: evidence please. I refuse to believe such crime until I see it.

Here's another sighting.

UQD, a year or so ago there was a TV advert for fabric conditioner which promised 'less creases'. An advert. Prime-time TV.

Also, ages ago I noticed an 'it/it's' error on a tube of moisturiser; I'm pretty sure it was Nivea!

I saw the Nivea advert the other day and, in true, proud pedant style, I emailed them and got a reply apologising and saying they had "spoken to the Marketing Department".

Whether they have or not I'll never know, but at least I made my point and they replied.

Well said UQD. I've had about a year's break from Mumsnet and glad to see you're still upholding the pedants' standards . The "of" phrase which absolutely makes me seethe with rage is "bored of". Aaaaaaaargh!!!

As wrong as it is, it very common usage in America though.

What, "should of/would of" is common usage in USA? In writing??

Do Americans call physics "physic"? I think they're wrong to say math if they don't...

Unquietdad - yes, shocking isn't it? But they like to simplify things by spelling how they speak, eg aluminum, sulfur etc. We say it dilutes the English language but then isn't that what language is all about? How it changes over time through use? Funnily enough, much of how the Americans spell can be traced back to Olde English use. So we have come full circle. Life is one big roundabout.

Although the case of "aluminum" is not so clear-cut is it? That was the original spelling.