The Smiley Smile Message Board

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.

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

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.

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).

could of would of should of

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?

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...

"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"!!!!  :lol :smokin ;)

(Couldn't resist)

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"    ;D  )

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.

The Beatles - I Should Of Known Better

Nine Inch Nails - And All That Could Of Been

...

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? 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, f*** 'em.)

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Definately.

I agrea wif yas, althogh I muss amit I am guiltee off diss to sumtymes >:D

Thanx. And the only way to pronounce the name of a certain famed singer is: Hovis Parsley.

I'd like to add "end thread," "/thread" and any other permutations that hint the poster thinks his or her word on the subject is in any way definitive or final. f*** that sh*t.

Hehe, yes, dear Luther. Also: [sarcasm][/sarcasm] or [irony][/irony], as if the poster is completely unable to let his or her feelings shine trough the words themselves. Sort of a confession of one's own limited means of expression.

And yellow font color.

And unwanted self-promotion in signatures.

Ooooh, sassy. How about italics in signatures, then?

Not worse than avatars drawn with MS Paint!

MS Paint is the finest medium on this earth. I'll stand behind it until the day I die. And besides, it's a perfect rendering of the gorgeous man typing these words. I mean, I suppose I could pick a cliched BBs image or something, maybe even to match a cliched BBs-referencing pseudonym. But I'd rather not--not at the moment, no. I'll just be myself.

Ok, you win. Might I add that you must be really handsome, judging by your avatar?  :p

You may. And I agree. Gods, I'm good-looking: I struggle to keep my hands off of me. In fact...

If you let SloopJohnB very near you, a great promotional liaison for gay marriage might be the result. I hear the voice of Sean Penn in the distance.

How poetic! I'm sure that means you would be in for a threesome.

Could of been.

 :lol

Idiots.

alot

Either written or typed, it's like a launch button.