h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm sorry. I'm a pedant. Does anyone else get steam coming out of their ears when people say or write "I could *of* won the competition" or "you should *of* seen that"?

It's *HAVE*. Could *have*. Should *have*. They get shortened to could've or should've. There is no *of*.

Thank you. Rant over.

Deb

Have or have not. There is no of.



Oh, I totally agree. Couldn't of said it better myself. HAVE! Sorry, couldn't have said it better myself. That's it.

*Ahem*


Geggs

You're not the only one.

"I took are car to the garage." (it's 'our' you bumbling half-wit!)
"I brought some new shoes to day." (Bought! Goddamit! And, no, being dyslexic is NOT an excuse.)

And since when where there glottal stops in 'water' and 'better'?

One foul swoop, anyone?

My personal bugbear is when the word sandwich is pronounced 'sangwidge'. I dislike that intensely. Also when the 's' is left off when talking about crisps as in 'Can I have a bag of crisp please', a bag of crisp?!? pah. whyioughta!

And 'asterix' instead of 'asterisk'

'Nucular' instead of 'nuclear'

'Pacific' instead of 'specific'

'Pitcher' instead of 'picture'

'Lickle' instead of 'little'

'perfick' instead of 'perfect'.

Yes yes yes! I am not alone!

Deb

'Somefink' instead of 'something'

Saying 'one pence piece' when 'pence' is the plural.

'Fishes' instead of 'fish'

'Mans' (or 'manz') instead of 'men'

Surely though, the difference in the way some would pronouce certain words would be down to their regional accent.
I come from Bradford, West Yorkshire & it wasn't until I had met my Boyfriend from Castleford, West Yorkshire that I had heard someone say "are Clare" or "are David" or someone been called a cocker-spadge, (don't ask because i've no idea what it means).
I think its quite quaint.
I mean its how our language evolved & will yet still evolve. If this didn't happen, we would all still be communicating with grunts!!??

Or redundant things like PIN number.

I always want to ask what the person saying it imagines the N is short for??

>>I mean its how our language evolved & will yet still evolve. If this didn't happen, we would all still be communicating with grunts!!??<<


You are certainly right, but one of the problems is, that people start writing in this manner, that's why I don't want my sons to become members of hootoo - how can I explain that they have to write English, which is not their first language, orthographically and grammatically correct, when the English people here can't be bothered ?

But that is down to pronounciation surely - in that case are = our, rather than a use of the wrong, or a similar sounding word.

Regional accents are fine. It's people with neutral accents or accents that don't normally allow for such pronunciations that annoy me.

B'elana.

I agree, but take my point.
I try to write words & use the correct grammar as best I can. I didn't have the best education, not that that is my excuse, but i do try. I wouldn't mind being corrected politely if i did write something wrong. What i do object to is being looked down upon & critised for not knowing what is correct.

Spoken 'could of's don't worry me, but when I see them written down, some poor little kid is about to get their head ripped off.

The kids in Gloucester all pronounce 'nothing' as 'nu!in' (where ! is a glottal stop). It sounds so ugly.

B

"Somefink" is actually quite formal now. The new version is hard to transcribe - it's got one syllable and is a little like...Saiynk.

Little Miss, I know what you mean, and I totally agree with you. It's not me having a problem,and I'd never look down on somebody making a mistake - but in our schooling system it's essential that the children know how to read and write in our language as well as in foreign languages - and my boys don't know, so that's very bad for their marks

Innit

Can I lend your pen

I don't want nothing

And then there's the use of the humble apostrophe....

The mouse went in it's hole
Your looking lovely today

Bad, bad, bad

Drawer does not = draw.

As in, "I can't find nuffink to put me arts materials in, in the draw."

PP

Dropping aitches