"could of"

[Aegir]

This is not an attack on anyone in particular. If anything, it's an attack on society. I'm not just being a grammar nazi here - there's a reason. I don't mind when people spell things wrong or use the wrong form of "to" or "they're" or anything like that. That's just informal, casual writing.

But for the people who use "could of", it's not just that they're being informal.

Context:

"Bob could of gone to the store, but he stayed home instead."

What sounds like "could of" in verbal conversation is not "could of", but "could've". It's a contraction for "could have".

When people use "could of", it's because they don't actually understand what they're saying.

If this offends anyone, I'll delete this topic, because I really do not mean to hurt anyone's feelings. I am only trying to inform.

I'm sorry I'm so crazy.

[Jay]

This has bugged the S H I T out of me for years!!!!! 

[Chris Brown]

This has bugged the S H I T out of me for years!!!!! 

Me too!  Its one of those things where I don't want to be a jerk and point it out, but it annoys me to no end when people do it.

[Luther]

I hate it. For some reason, I've noticed it a lot recently.

And what the hell, I'll one-up you, Aegir. I do hate when people use the wrong form of to/two/too and their/they're/there.  Typos are one thing. Drunken rants (ahem) are one thing. Writing in your second language is one thing. But it's really hard for me to take someone seriously if he can't master third- or fourth-grade English (assuming he's an English speaker).

[Jonas]

could of would of should of

[Luther]

GODDAMNIT.

[SMiLE-Holland]

GODDAMNIT.

Now, that could lead onto a whole other kind of discussion (rules & guidelines, especially nr.3)


But assuming you don't mean this seriously, that still leaves the question: did you spell it right?

[Luther]

That wasn't foul language. It was a plea to any deity who may exist to damn your poor use of English.

And yes, I spelled it correctly. I capitalized it annoyingly, but the letters are all there and in the proper order...

[lance]

"Could of" etc. bugs me too.  They should write "could've"-- that'd be correct. I can see where one could make that mistake, but it bugs me.

But whatevs.

[Luther]

"Could of" etc. bugs me too.  They should write "could've"-- that'd be correct. I can see where one could make that mistake, but it bugs me.

But whatevs.

Right on. And another thing I hate: "whatevs"!!!! 

(Couldn't resist)

[SMiLE-Holland]

That wasn't foul language. It was a plea to any deity who may exist to damn your poor use of English.

And yes, I spelled it correctly. I capitalized it annoyingly, but the letters are all there and in the proper order...

I hope you weren't taking me too seriously here... (but I could say that in fact it should be 3 separate words, space characters and all...)

(and, hey, I'm Dutch so who am I to judge on the proper use of the English language, but I hope it's a comfort for you that even I know that one should write "could've"      )

[Luther]

I don't take anything on a message board too seriously. Hence my consistent loose play with the rules and repeated threats of being banned.

[phirnis]

The Beatles - I Should Of Known Better

Nine Inch Nails - And All That Could Of Been

...

[punkinhead]

if it makes you feel any better, during my student teaching this semester, a 1st grader asked me how to spell gonna & I corrected by saying 'going to'


but then again, whenever the kids are playing around instead of their work, i say something like stop 'fiddling about'....man, if I wasn't such a fan of Tommy

[Luther]

The Beatles - I Should Of Known Better

Nine Inch Nails - And All That Could Of Been

...

What? You're rewriting things incorrectly? The Beatles song was correctly done. I Should Have Known Better. (As for NIN, I don't know and won't bother to find out because, well, foder 'em.)

[lance]

if it makes you feel any better, during my student teaching this semester, a 1st grader asked me how to spell gonna & I corrected by saying 'going to'


but then again, whenever the kids are playing around instead of their work, i say something like stop 'fiddling about'....man, if I wasn't such a fan of Tommy

What's wrong with "fiddling about?" Grammatically there is no problem. I don't think kids should be taught to scorn colloquialisms, only inaccuracies.
Though they should know when they are and aren't appropriate, I guess.

[punkinhead]

oh, i wasnt saying that fiddling about was bad, i was just stating a random fact of my usual vocabulary   

[carlydenise]

could of doesn't even make sense in any form. 

[The Heartical Don]

I hate it. For some reason, I've noticed it a lot recently.

And what the hell, I'll one-up you, Aegir. I do hate when people use the wrong form of to/two/too and their/they're/there.  Typos are one thing. Drunken rants (ahem) are one thing. Writing in your second language is one thing. But it's really hard for me to take someone seriously if he can't master third- or fourth-grade English (assuming he's an English speaker).

Luther -

for some reason I could predict that it would be you who'd bring in booze in this discussion.

And yes, I don't like 'could of', neither 'there/they're' mixups.'

Americans tend to write 'wierd', and 'Lieber & Stoller' too. That is strange, because, for instance, 'bier', 'die', and 'lie' are pronounced rather differently. One could make a case for a reform that would prescribe 'weerd', and 'Leeber & Stoller'... come to that, 'Leiber' and 'Lieberman' sound much the same. 'Seinfeld' is much different from 'Leiber', of course. I don't know, perhaps it's a matter of the Jewish origin of these names. 'Leiber' and 'Weintraub' derive from 'Leib' (body) and 'Wein' (wine), respectively, whereas 'Lieberman' derives from 'Lieb' (lovely, affectionate).

Just my two cents and all corrections are much welcome.

[Luther]

Rediculous ... and overuse of ellipses ... when a sentence really should end ... I mean, shouldn't it? ... because they don't have to wander ... bunch of semi-coherent, semi-connected half-thoughts? ... and of course the misspellings (see rediculous) ... that's what pisses me off lately.