The memes make themselves

  • Draghetta@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    49
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 month ago

    As a non native English speaker, that is the grammar mistake that most baffles me in natives. Like, how does anybody think that “of” is the right word there, how does it make sense in their heads.

    True 🦴🍎☕️ material, if it weren’t that absurdly common.

    • ℛ𝒶𝓋ℯ𝓃@pawb.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      25
      ·
      1 month ago

      I think the mistake might come from a lack of reading. The contraction “should’ve” is often used in speech, which might be mistakenly written as “should of” if you don’t read a lot and see it written properly all the time. We’ve mostly lost the voiced quality of “v” at the ends of words like that, so it’s basically pronounced “should-uf” in American English.

      • RecluseRamble@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        I mean, it’s rather obvious it’s just written down as it’s spoken - like “bone apple tea”. But while it’s relatable that someone who doesn’t know any French cannot write “bon appétit”, I don’t get how a native speaker could write “should of” and thinking yeah that makes complete sense.

        It’s also not an auto-correct problem like “there, they’re, their” may have originated (I hope it did).

      • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 month ago

        i just learned yesterday that apparently america teaches kids to read not by, you know, having them read things, but by memorizing made-up rules to… guess at how words are pronounced and what they mean…

        this uh, explains a lot about why america is why it is, i feel.

    • can_you_change_your_username@fedia.io
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 month ago

      When spoken should’ve can sound a lot like should of or shoulda depending on the dialect. Most native speakers don’t really think about gammer rules when writing informally, they just write how they speak.

      • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        1 month ago

        shoulda makes vastly more sense, and is precisely the kind of thing that tends to become slang and eventually just the standard spelling, like “dunno” or “gotcha”.

        “should of” just feels like people know it should be two words, but don’t know how it’s spelled, and instead of just spelling it phonetically they make something half-phonetic up.

        • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          1 month ago

          I say shoulda, gonna, etc. I’m never going to mix up should’ve with should of. It doesn’t make ANY fucking sense typed out. I discount everything else a person has said if they type either.

    • stebo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 month ago

      It’s like when they mess up they’re, their and there. It doesn’t make any sense until you read it out loud

      • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 month ago

        Should of is so much worse though. There/they’re/their I can excuse as being dyslexic or English as a second language. But should of/could of speaks to a deep problem. The person who types it does not consider what they say.

        • stebo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 month ago

          Why? What’s the difference? In both cases a word is replaced by a similarly sounding word. Both mistakes are the same.