No, I was just pointing out the irony to Mark. Only pulling his leg, not really a superiority match with him or anything lol :D

Yes, I don't always mind; may it be Z or S, in that context. I just mind my own business, most times. :D

:thumb:

The 'decadent West's' sense of 'guilt'. ;)

Ironic.

lol

I've sometimes wondered this: is it actually a brilliant punchline?

Perhaps it's to to with not taking their second language for granted, whereas the native speakers would do so. It's their first language, they're rightful to how they speak, write or twist it, I suppose. They're in a comfort zone with their first language in an 'owning' sense.

No, I don't think the users of this "could of" and "would of" are a phrase of 'choice'. I don't think they deliberately choose to write it like this, for some creativity or for modernising the language they know so well. I seriously think that it's a true reflection of how poor their literacy is; at least in terms of their language. I know that you're being lighthearted with this thread, and I'm never out with big stick to beat such "would of" users up. But I have to be honest that such poor knowledge of framing a phrase with 'of' instead of 'have' is utterly disgraceful for a native Englishman/Englishwoman.

Thing is, and I hope they don't mind, I've noted that both hodgy and Martin are 'serial offenders' of the "could of", "would of", etc. And, of course, they are FAR from 'thick' or uneducated!

So the 'endemic' lol is not exclusively tied to the 'less schooled', shall we say.

I think, for the most part, it's simply not thinking/processing. Which is fine. It's not as if we're in a school exam, after all.

It's laziness. ;)

lol

JT translating my post in just two simple words. :o

That's why I've always maintained that having poor English doesn't mean that person is thick. They might be thick with their English but they might be really nice people with razor sharp wisdom; like our Hodgy and our Martin.

I do believe that these two are just flippant. They're not necessarily weak with their English. Other than that, I think they simply try to 'fit in' here to 'get through' the commons hence their slippery delivery with 'of' instead of 'have' and distinct lack of punctuation marks; mainly with Hodgy. The gentleman simply dislikes full stops. :D

He's a top man, though. :cool:

:lol1:

Quite. Glen Scrivener (my poet mate) uses awful text speak and appalling grammar when we're messaging, but has one of the finest commands of the language and a wonderful mind.

My kids both say "can I get" instead of "can I have" and it winds me up.
For example, my eldest, who keeps failing his English exams, will go into, for example, McDonald's, and when asked what he would like, will say "erm . . . . erm, can I get a twenty mcnugget share box please". Which leaves me thinking, yeah go on, feck off over that counter and fetch yourself them then, you fukin mcnugget" . . . . Teenagers!

:lol:

At your own kid!

Funny as.

Yes, my daughter is similar, James. Her txt spk is like any other young lady's. Her spellings are never wrong tbh. But it's her expression that's so absorbing. I look all the time for her messages on FB, but I actually got her post card yesterday with her scribbly hand writing, which I had to really concentrate to understand. Too much to fit in; on a big, open post card. Felt so raw and real in my hands; at the same time, quite magical. To read on it was no deep browed pretence, no frills attached; but just astonishing, spontaneous quality writings; containing some awesome experiences away! Not saying it because she's my kid, but saying it because she seems like someone else's kid with such extra ordinary flow of expression.

Yeah . . . Luckily he has got a thick skin, to go with being a thick tw@t :D

PMSL

LOL I thought my son calling Bohemian Rhapsody the Bohemian Respiratory was bad! He was only 13, mind, and in his group of friends, good old Queen became quite trendy for some weird reason, then. I think it was to do with the repeated word: "Mama..." in the song, which might have sounded playful to that lot because they're trying to break away from their mamas at that age.

That's very 'Freudian' reasoning. :freak3:

It's a fact that from 12-13 on, boys tend to move on to other female figures, and rightly so. That's without Freud sticking his ore in.

Oar.

The (teenage) 'change'. I remember it well. :o

Interesting time, wasn't it?

Around that age when I was breaking away, I started to like a football player kid as well as a tennis player kid in school. Footballer one liked someone else, so I had to settle for the tennis one. Footballer is now an engineer. I saw the adult him on his push bike in India; about 20 years ago. The tennis player one is a doctor; somewhere in States. Never got to talk to him properly, ever. Just used to sit opposite to each other in the library. Dead quietly.....looking at the book and stealthily looking at each other occasionally. All bull$hit, man! Just fantasy times and nothing else. :lol1:

Ahh the innocence. In my day if you were lucky a bird would put her hand in your trouser pocket. If you were double lucky you would have a hole in your pocket :)

One word to sum up that period. Frustration.

lol

...You wanted to 'mount' most things lol

what winds me up is.....
when people say..

MY BAD

&

SEE YOU LATER

First one, a recent Americanism.

Last one's been around since time immemorial. A recent alternative: See you in a bit.

When I was new in the UK, I used to find 'Not too bad' a bit of a strange term. You ask someone: "How are you?". They say: "Not too bad, thanks.". What is that supposed to mean, hm? Are you saying that you're actually bad but not too bad? How should I appropriately respond to you, with that? Should I sympathise and say- "I'm sorry to hear that you're bad to some extent. What exactly happened?", or should I say- "Good to know that you're bad but not too bad. Let's have a cup of tea and a cake to celebrate it." ?? Very confusing, it was. :wonder:

In time, I've understood that it means that they're ok but don't want to brag about it. Therefore, I no more find this term ambiguous, offensive or simply annoying.