[Wayneo]

Could of!!! Surely you mean Could HAVE

Boy the grammar police and HAVE in capital letters lol.

 

[Vikki]

Guess what... the contracting of "could have" to could've sounds just like "could of"

 

[Daibhin]

I use the DELETE button. And when possible the BLOCK as well. This week I had 3 messages telling me my McAfee account has expired (don't have one), 2 insisting my iCloud Storage has expired (my Apple account is alive and well) and a package is waiting for me to pay shipping costs. DELETE, DELETE, DELETE AND BLOCK.

Yep.

 

[Daibhin]

No we are not at school any longer but can still be way layed if English is not our first language !

Sorry but it is waylaid, which means interrupt, stop, detain etc. I think confused might suit better, I know other languages confuse me when trying to learn them.

 

[Daibhin]

Because people do not speak correctly these days.

Guess what... the contracting of "could have" to could've sounds just like "could of"

If could've is pronounced as it should it does not sound the same as could of, however if not a born English speaker it might, or could be just laziness.

 

[Daibhin]

That is a pet hate of mine also. Young people are lazy with their speech so they write it as they say it and no teacher pulls them up.

It's not only young people, some seniors are as bad. One person recently pronounced her as ah - 'I can't see ah.' I only worked out the word was ''her'' because of the rest of her conversation.

 

[Daibhin]

If some of us use the wrong pronunciation why can’t others ignore it ? When you have to tell people they are saying something the wrong way it often makes them feel inferior and I guess it makes the person telling them the right way feel big and clever. We are not the younger generation we are seniors and some may not have had the education others have had. So instead of trying to make people feel small please try and ignore it.

I don't think that is the case, many here may see it as helping them learn pronunciations, or spellings, to avoid continuing to make these mistakes; especially if it once was your job to do just that.

 

[Daibhin]

Please consider an alternative on this '' Words and Spelling Matter '' or as you put it '' A Pet Hate '' as I will share my husbands story ...
He was born with a deformed malleus bone ( known in layman's terms as the Hammer ) . In those days it wasn't picked up early enough and he has since been deaf in that ear which also impacted him in his early school days , hence he cannot spell correctly nor write too well.

Sorry about your husband's childhood problem. But there are dictionaries or, God save us, spellcheck and other helpful guides for anyone who has problems with spelling when writing.

One of my past volunteer jobs was with an illiteracy help group; the joy of people who found they could "finally read a story and enjoy it" was a huge reward for me. Part of the job was helping with job applications - not doing it for them but giving exercises that built the confidence to complete forms on their own, to help bring more independence.

 

[Barbara V]

Everyone from different countries have a different way of pronunciation,I found out the hard way when coming here from UK many ,many years ago. To me it was a hilarious name check as I had same problem previously from different parts UK when I joined the Army. Does it really matter as long as you get to the point

 

[RayW86]

I thought this thread was intended to be about scams. It seems I was wrong. It is more about petty griping on the subject of grammatical errors. So many posts end up going down the same path. Let's all get over it and try and stay on subject.

 

[FETCHAM]

Had same experience with McAfee. Saw my bank declined to make any payments and Told them I would report them to Ombudsman and consumer affairs if they did not stop. BINGO!
no more from them.

 

[Parrot]

McAfee seems to be the popular one I get them as well apart from others which I have “ BLOCKED “
several times with no effect ..

 

[Macarj]

I get them daily

 

[Gunpark]

Was it really necessary to be picky ? We are not at school !

It grates on me also and we are just trying to help as schools are not doing their job properly.

 

[Mika in the van]

That is a pet hate of mine also. Young people are lazy with their speech so they write it as they say it and no teacher pulls them up.

Mine too. It really bugs me the way every town or place is abbreviated by the younger generation. Then they get shirty with you if you ask where they are talking about. Is it really that hard to say a whole word? And if you’re a tourist in the area of course you don’t know where Lanza or Manny are!

 

[Gus]

It's actually a misspelt version of the Aussie way of saying "could have" i.e. "could've"

 

[Dynamo]

I’ve had a lot of emails from Telstra lately because they changed my plan for some unknown reason, so I really wasn’t surprised to get emails from them except some were saying I was in arrears and to pay immediately! Tried phoning but it was going to take ages so I used their chat, where I was told after some investigation that I was in credit. That started alarm bells ringing and when I checked, all but 2 of Telstra’s emails were scams! So stupid of me to not to have checked just because I was half expecting them ! So mad with myself !

The scammers are so clever these days. Busy people can miss very subtle signs.

 

[Catherines]

You've taken on an endless and thankless task if you are thinking of correcting the grammar and spelling of posts. I shudder to think how many times I've seen incorrect wording / spelling, but these days seems to have gone by the wayside. I blame our education system. I don't know if English is still part of the school curriculum.

Yes, we are barking up the wrong tree trying to correct the way the English language is used, written and spoken these days. In my opinion, correction can only occur if a number of the teachers our children are educated by are taught correct grammar & how to speak correctly BEFORE exposing our children to them right from Kindergarten age. Parents too need to speak correctly, otherwise the English language will become a muddle of words and phrases and words will be lost forever.

My neighbour’s daughter was, and may still be, Second in Charge below the Principal of a state primary school. She always uses ‘bought’ instead of ‘brought’. Never ever heard her saying ‘brought’. It is always ‘bought’. Politicians also pronounce the word incorrectly. Some other words - ‘Secetry’ instead of ‘sec-re-tary’ and ‘noo-cu-ler ’ instead of ‘new-clear’ are other incorrectly used words as is ‘this premise’ instead of ‘these premises’. The latter might be about a single building but the correct way to refer to it is ‘these premises’. I do know my spellings but have used examples above somewhat phonetically.

Too late to change the education system - all we can do is consciously teach our infants the correct way to pronounce words, to use phrases and correct them when they slip up. It bugs me no end to hear our so-called educated people and politicians speaking incorrectly, and doing so on TV for a world audience to hear and probably criticise. Too many corrections to talk about so I’ll stop here.

 

[Reet]

If some of us use the wrong pronunciation why can’t others ignore it ? When you have to tell people they are saying something the wrong way it often makes them feel inferior and I guess it makes the person telling them the right way feel big and clever. We are not the younger generation we are seniors and some may not have had the education others have had. So instead of trying to make people feel small please try and ignore it.

I so agree. If you are constantly correcting people they will certainly start feeling resentful. Let them alone. Just always speak correctly and hopefully they will pick up the correct way to speak without you having to point it out to them.

 

[harveja]

I’ve had a lot of emails from Telstra lately because they changed my plan for some unknown reason, so I really wasn’t surprised to get emails from them except some were saying I was in arrears and to pay immediately! Tried phoning but it was going to take ages so I used their chat, where I was told after some investigation that I was in credit. That started alarm bells ringing and when I checked, all but 2 of Telstra’s emails were scams! So stupid of me to not to have checked just because I was half expecting them ! So mad with myself !

You’re better off checking with Telstra or your bank if you’re doubtful, better safe than sorry! So don’t be too hard on yourself.