"Could of" - Gah!
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Discussion

james_tigerwoods

Original Poster:

16,347 posts

226 months

Tuesday 29th September 2009
quotequote all
Where has the oft used phrase "could of" come from - it's could have FFS!

Not a rant, per se as I'm on my way out of the office but I'm sick of seeing it

No, my own grammar isn't perfect, I know!

hugo a gogo

23,437 posts

262 months

Tuesday 29th September 2009
quotequote all
shirley you could've worked it out?

it's people mishearing 'could've'

mouseymousey

2,642 posts

266 months

Tuesday 29th September 2009
quotequote all
I'm with you on this, it's the most annoying error that I see on the internet.

Could of, should of, would of. So annoying!


Papa_Hotel

12,760 posts

211 months

Tuesday 29th September 2009
quotequote all
Probably the same morons that can't spell ambulance. Amiright?

TonyHetherington

32,091 posts

279 months

Tuesday 29th September 2009
quotequote all
May I also point you towards the particularly frustrating use of the phrase;

"off of"...as in Jennifer Anniston off of Friends.

Grumble grumble.

anonymous-user

83 months

Tuesday 29th September 2009
quotequote all
hugo a gogo said:
shirley you could've worked it out?

it's people mishearing 'could've'
You can see why people get it wrong all the time.

I expect in the future it will become accepted usage as the language 'evolves'. Unless we go the French way and have some kind of organisation made up of grammar bots to protect it.


james_tigerwoods

Original Poster:

16,347 posts

226 months

Tuesday 29th September 2009
quotequote all
Ambulance was language ignorance on my part but "could of" is poor grammar.

Or is the continuous use and subsequent PH correction that I see wrong?

sadako

7,080 posts

267 months

Tuesday 29th September 2009
quotequote all
el stovey said:
hugo a gogo said:
shirley you could've worked it out?

it's people mishearing 'could've'
You can see why people get it wrong all the time.

I expect in the future it will become accepted usage as the language 'evolves'. Unless we go the French way and have some kind of organisation made up of grammar bots to protect it.
Yeah and look where it got them. Despite official documents being written in official french the locals are now using french with a hodgepodge of words from other languages including English. Words like "Computer" and "Weekend" are in common public use for example despite officially sanctioned equivalents being available.

If you try to enforce a language that way the language just goes stale.

BoRED S2upid

21,047 posts

269 months

Tuesday 29th September 2009
quotequote all
Papa_Hotel said:
Probably the same morons that can't spell ambulance. Amiright?
No your very wrong.

We can spell Ambulance. In two different languages. We're clever like that.

Devilstreak

8,088 posts

210 months

Tuesday 29th September 2009
quotequote all
TonyHetherington said:
May I also point you towards the particularly frustrating use of the phrase;

"off of"...as in Jennifer Anniston off of Friends.

Grumble grumble.
I'm aware that I got pulled up the other day for "could of", But you can blame Scott Mills "off of" radio 1 for the "off of" phrase.

james_tigerwoods

Original Poster:

16,347 posts

226 months

Tuesday 29th September 2009
quotequote all
BoRED S2upid said:
Papa_Hotel said:
Probably the same morons that can't spell ambulance. Amiright?
No your very wrong.

We can spell Ambulance. In two different languages. We're clever like that.
As above, ambulance is also available in many other languages with other spellings too...


toasty

8,405 posts

249 months

Tuesday 29th September 2009
quotequote all
Maybe it's like those people who spell 'definitely' as 'definately'.

Apparently it's a subtle way of indicating that they are up for toilet trading.

Either that or they're making a rather unfortunate typo.

anonymous-user

83 months

Tuesday 29th September 2009
quotequote all
BoRED S2upid said:
Papa_Hotel said:
Probably the same morons that can't spell ambulance. Amiright?
No your very wrong.

We can spell Ambulance. In two different languages. We're clever like that.
hehe

ShadownINja

80,048 posts

311 months

Tuesday 29th September 2009
quotequote all
james_tigerwoods said:
Where has the oft used phrase "could of" come from - it's could have FFS!

Not a rant, per se as I'm on my way out of the office but I'm sick of seeing it

No, my own grammar isn't perfect, I know!
It's the Welsh version of "could have", of course... wink

XMES RUS

1,318 posts

253 months

Tuesday 29th September 2009
quotequote all
Tim Westwood the muva of the street thesaurus.

Evangelion

8,645 posts

207 months

Tuesday 29th September 2009
quotequote all
BoRED S2upid said:
No your very wrong.
That should be 'No, you're very wrong.'

Innit?

elster

17,517 posts

239 months

Tuesday 29th September 2009
quotequote all
hugo a gogo said:
shirley you could've worked it out?

it's people mishearing 'could've'
Well that wasn't hard to come to the conclusion.

The first post.

james_tigerwoods

Original Poster:

16,347 posts

226 months

Tuesday 29th September 2009
quotequote all
elster said:
hugo a gogo said:
shirley you could've worked it out?

it's people mishearing 'could've'
Well that wasn't hard to come to the conclusion.

The first post.
Does that excuse poor written grammar then?

Eric Mc

125,609 posts

294 months

Tuesday 29th September 2009
quotequote all
It's not an example of poor grammar.

It's an example of poor knowledge of the correct word or form of words to actually use which in turn stems from a poor English education and poor literacy skills.

escargot

17,123 posts

246 months

Tuesday 29th September 2009
quotequote all
TonyHetherington said:
May I also point you towards the particularly frustrating use of the phrase;

"off of"...as in Jennifer Anniston off of Friends.

Grumble grumble.
Off of is a phrase you'll never hear me say where Jennifer Anniston is concerned.

EG, Jennifer, get off of my face. Jennifer get off of my co.... etc.