Bad Grammar

[Bouncy Castle]

Oh don't get me started on "I could care less".

In other words, moron, YOU CARE.

[Tonyblack]

But surely, 'I couldn't care less' means that you care more than not caring at all.

I couldn't care + less.

[DaveC]

I always say couldn't care less.

[Bouncy Castle]

I always say couldn't care less.

Dat is coz youz and meez is propa speekaz of de Englisj innit.

[Dotsie]

But surely, 'I couldn't care less' means that you care more than not caring at all.

I couldn't care + less.

No, if you don't care at all then you couldn't care any less, it would be impossible.

I always thought the Americans said their version with irony anyway, so it doesn't annoy me at all.

[SimStars13]

Yeah, I meant Jingo (sorry). Erm it was Vetinari spelt wrong and... Conan? I think it was Jingo.

[Dotsie]

Well, that's just typos. Hardly Terry's fault, sack the proofreaders.

[daveynutter]

Major Eyeswater,

Today I typed into google "Terry Pratchett could of" to see what I could see...

I too love all of TP's books and find this one mistake absolutely infuriating! I too cannot agree with the viewpoint that all of the characters are ignorant or so heavily accented that they "speak with poor spelling". It's mind boggling that this error seems to be contained in every last one of the books. I've thought for a while that it might have been TP's insistence to make some point, which is why I've started looking around, but I'm not sure.

Glad to see that someone else finds it infuriating at least!!

[Tonyblack]

Welcome to the site, daveynutter!

I've said this already, but I'll say it again. If it is said as dialogue then I don't have a problem. People don't speak perfectly pronounced English all the time and therefore to have perfect English in dialogue is, frankly, unrealistic.

It's like the times Terry has had a character talking something that they had eaten and using the word "et" in the dialogue. It's not a proper word - you won't find it in any dictionaries as an alternative to "ate", but it what people say and therefore, in some cases more realistic.

If 'should of' was used outside of dialogue, then I'd agree with you. That sort of typo or mistake would bother me too.


And all this reminds me of a phrase I recently heard: Muphry's Law (as opposed to Murphy's Law) which states that: when correcting someones grammar online, it is inevitable that you'll make a mistake yourself.

[Dotsie]

Welcome to the site! I work in an office with an academic (she has a PhD) who says "could of", but her written English is impeccable. It's called "having an accent".

[=Tamar]

Welcome to the site! I work in an office with an academic (she has a PhD) who says "could of", but her written English is impeccable. It's called "having an accent".

I always spell it "could've" - which sounds exactly the same. I say that people have always said it correctly, though sometimes separating the "could" from the "'ve" for emphasis, but the teachers have insisted on the incorrect spelling "of" for "'ve" and most people seem to have accepted that brainwashing. (It's similar to the "new" pronunciation, "did ent" for "didn't", which I believe was instigated by teachers trying to eliminate the "din't" pronunciation.)

I have had that argument with Sir Terry in the past. He didn't agree at the time, but I believe somewhere in Dodger the educated characters have their version spelled "could've" - it's a class thing. People with no money aren't often allowed to be portrayed as sometimes speaking correctly.

[Alanz]

Welcome to the site! I work in an office with an academic (she has a PhD) who says "could of", but her written English is impeccable. It's called "having an accent".

I too work in an Office as Security i get all the Security e mails from a bigger site where our Management are and some of the messages that they e mail are so funny that i fail to believe that they went to school, i know that we all make mistakes but a little care before mailing is called for to stop you looking a prat

[Tonyblack]

And when writing about grammar on a website, beware of Muphry's Law.

[Alanz]

Yes M8 i know i'm always making mistakes, but i think Management should know a bit better and we do have spell check facility on our system at work which is automatic so ther should be no excuses for them really, i think they are so keen to express their disgust to something that they rush into it like a Bull in a China shop, but i do see what you mean

[chris.ph]

my grammer was a lovely lady