# Couldn't of/couldn't have **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 15, 2020, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156 "2020-08-15T05:34:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/302 "2020-08-27T02:39:43Z")
He should of known that. ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/303 "2020-08-27T06:18:06Z")
It doesn’t jive. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/304 "2020-08-28T07:33:42Z")
Indeed. “Youse guys.” And you’ll hear it in the Chicago area sometimes, too. It’s definitely normal among the cohort I grew up with, like “hey, what youse guys doing tonight?” Or, more phonetically, “Whuh choose guys doin’ t’night?” ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/305 "2020-08-28T18:46:42Z")
Yeah, I was going to spell it that way but you’s was hard enough. Didn’t want to hurt myself. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/306 "2020-08-28T19:11:10Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > A few years back I decided the best way to think about “proper English” is as a second language that one learns in elementary school. For some people, it’s quite close to the language they learn at home or in the playground, but for others it’s rather different. There’s something to that. On the other hand, the way I was raised, my native language actually is “proper English.” I eventually picked up enough demotic from the other kids to become able to code-switch. ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/307 "2020-08-28T19:16:32Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I just don’t agree. The apostrophe started as a way to show letters had been omitted in speech. I should have said “punctuation convention”. My main point was that there were two ways to write a possessive of a word ending with an S, and no universal agreement about which is standard. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/308 "2020-08-28T21:32:05Z")
I thought the Apostrophe marked that one part that the nicean sages decided did not belong in the bible. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/309 "2020-08-29T02:09:13Z")
Our poster with the “could of” proclivity has done it again in the thread about taking someone out to dinner with a coupon. That’s twice since this thread was begun, and twice since he posted here in it. I do not think he is taking this seriously. Good thing I’m not a grammar nazi. 😬 ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/310 "2020-08-29T18:38:50Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Incidentally, the absence of “neighbour” and “colour” and the like in my postings here is a courtesy to the American majority on this board, though it’s becoming problematic because I’m starting to spell that way in general! In the words of Bob Dylan, “You will not die. It is not poison.” ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/311 "2020-08-29T18:40:00Z")
My friend in New Mexico just posted a pic of a long-awaited rain shower. One of her friends commented: “I love rain on the dessert!” So I mischievously replied: “Someone left a cake out in the rain.” ---
**Author:** ![Ynnad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4491bb/32.png) [@Ynnad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ynnad)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/312 "2020-08-29T18:49:58Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Our poster with the “could of” proclivity has done it again in the thread about taking someone out to dinner with a coupon. That’s twice since this thread was begun, and twice since he posted here in it. I do not think he is taking this seriously. It wasn’t me was it? I don’t want to have to go back to everything I posted this week just to check. And by the way, I don’t take anything in this particular thread seriously. ETA: I guess it could of been me, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2020, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/313 "2020-09-14T07:44:58Z")
For some reason, I didn’t know that until I was in my 20s. However, up to that time I always wrote it out: “couldn’t have”. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2020, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/314 "2020-09-14T10:06:04Z")
I kinda like ‘could of’. Makes me feel nostalgic. Malapropisms annoy me though; I’m always afraid that if they happen often enough they’ll become accepted usage. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2020, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/315 "2020-10-04T19:32:35Z")
What truly hurt my head was when, on a different site, I saw “He could had of sent them to …” ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2020, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/316 "2020-10-08T03:23:22Z")
This thread reminds me of something I found out recently about spelling/usage that I’m surprised never came up before, or I at least hadn’t noticed. There’s apparently a word called “apiece” that you use when you say “The items are $2 apiece”. I even typed the space in there as I typed that out because I swear I never had seen the word “apiece” before so I haven’t gotten used to typing it yet. I only found out when Microsoft Word corrected me on it, and I took to Google to find out that it was right. It noted however, that “The pizza is $2 a piece” is correct because you’re literally referring to pieces. But what if you said “The pizza slices are $2 a( )piece”? You just called them slices, but they are also pieces. But the meaning is entirely like the first sentence and not the second, and the rule apparently is to put a space there if the items are literally pieces. I wish I was making this up. [https://brians.wsu.edu/2016/05/17/apiece-a-piece/](https://brians.wsu.edu/2016/05/17/apiece-a-piece/) Apparently there is no major kerfluffle about people using the word the wrong way, but it feels as though it was something that the strict grammarian that taught my “Accounting Communication” class would have forced on us to learn, given that we did the same with “every( )day”. Of course, she didn’t believe in using the subjunctive. One example of a correct sentence among those with errors included one that started was “If I was king, I would…” I think I was the only person in the class that said it was wrong. Reading up on the subjunctive just now to make sure that I got it right, I found a introductory phrase that has drastically changed meaning between subjunctive and indicative: “If he was a woman” vs. “If he were a woman”. Now I can’t think of any conclusions to those introductions that would make logical sense for both, but I hope someone here can figure one out. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2020, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/317 "2020-10-08T12:56:15Z")
AFAIK “apiece” is bog standard English since forever. I’m amazed anyone would find that word unusual. Which just goes to show how varied our experiences are. We all learn our language by doing, and who knows what holes are in our personal hunk of Swiss cheese-like knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2020, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/318 "2020-10-08T12:59:04Z")
The OED has a cite for “apiece” from the King James Bible. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2020, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/319 "2020-10-08T18:44:38Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Swiss cheese-like knowledge Now I want aslice to be a thing. The pizza is $2 aslice. The Swiss cheese is 25 cents aslice. I think we can make this happen. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2020, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/320 "2020-10-08T21:23:11Z")
Well, “nevertheless” means something completely different from “never the less”, just like “a stride” is not cognate with “astride”. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2020, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/321 "2020-10-08T23:56:46Z")
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