I believe that even the best grammar gurus will make grammar mistakes. I know for me, my brain is spinning a whole lot faster than my fingers can keep up. Sometimes I think my fingers take short cuts. Or maybe it is my brain taking the short cuts, I’m not sure. Sometimes I catch it before I hit publish, or send, or whatever the case may be. Sometimes I don’t catch it until a day or two later when my brain has disengaged. I’m quite sure there are plenty of times I don’t catch it at all, but I like to pretend that doesn’t happen. And then there is lay, lie, laid and layed. I still have to look it up to see which way I’m supposed to use it. I say let’s just use “lei” and plant ourselves on a sandy island beach somewhere and call it good.
Of course, we all see grammar errors in the things we read. Most of the time, I see it, I understand how it was meant or how the mistake happened, and just go on. (Make no mistake, my brain does see it. It’s annoying sometimes that my brain can’t just let it go by.)
But I was being berated in an email this weekend, and the sender kept saying “would of” “could of” “should of”.
It took every ounce of my being not to just send a reply that said:
“HAVE. It’s HAVE. Would HAVE. Could HAVE. Should HAVE.”
This error is easy to overlook for someone that does not have English as a primary language. Because we lazy Americans say “should’ve” all the time. We do love our contractions, don’t we? And “should’ve” sounds like “should of”.
However, if you are a professional, that corresponds with others in written word on a professional basis, please, for the love of all things cute and cuddly, if you are going to berate, chastise or yell at someone in writing, it’s “SHOULD HAVE”. (To be clear, I was not being berated professionally, I was being berated by someone who also happens
It’s really quite impossible to take being chastised seriously when your brain is picking apart the person’s grammar, punctuation and spelling. I find myself thinking, “Oh wait, were you saying something I was supposed to be paying attention to?” It completely takes the punch out of it.
***Ally
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9 comments:
OH I love those moments. My sister used to run a store and for high school graduation class she had put a sign up that said 'congratulations' only she spelled it congraDulations. It drove me BONKERS. I had to get the dictionary to prove she had spelled it incorrectly. The fingers faster than brain thing. I call it chat dyslexia.
This totally reminded me that I needed to go fix a typo in today's post. I'm gonna run and do it before I forget. Wish me luck!
Oh! great post
LOL, totally. I'm sending this to Eric. When he gets upset, he abandons grammar and spelling and hits send. OMG.
My husband is notorious for using would of. It too drives me absolutely bat***t crazy. And the guy I work with who insists on calling it a Liberry. It's a freakin LibRary. I want to knock him down every time he says it.
Oh, sorry, got a little nutty there for a second. I'll step off my high horse now...especially since I am constantly perplexed by the comma. As a matter of fact, I'm sure I've misused it a thousand times in this comment.
I make mistakes too, I'm sure. I just try not to look after the edit's over. I always edit. I still cringe when I see your being used instead of you're and the various screw-ups of there, their and they're. I have the lay, laid, lie stuff figured out thanks to Julie over at By Any Other Name. However, I'm still screwing up who and whom. I think what bothers me most is when I know someone knows correct grammar and they consistently choose not to use it. I learned all this so many years ago, so why have I forgotten so much of it? OY
I think my fingers go faster than my head sometimes and I'm guilty of making mistakes too! :)
I can't comment on this because I'm a nurse and never took english. I'm fairly certain that I have a gazillion (not a word) grammatical errors within my posts...which is why BlogHer is an ass-shat and never wants to publish my stuff.
Well that just took a turn...hee hee
Do you ever send out an email in haste only to later realize you typed "right" instead of "write"?
And then you're there trying to decide whether or not to email the person back to explain you know better or pray she won't notice.
Would of, could of should of...
You're a funny woman, Ally! xoxo
It never fails that when someone criticizes our grammar they usually make a mistake while they're doing it.
The should "OF" bothers me no end but I get stab happy when people write "I hope I don't loose my keys today." I WILL KILL THEM ALL.
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