# 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:** 9
**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 19, 2020, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/162 "2020-08-19T04:13:10Z")
It’s big in North Dakota, too. Made many tending bar there years ago. I’m sure it’s because of the Canadian influence. Damnit, now I want one. The Caeser I mean ---
**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 19, 2020, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/163 "2020-08-19T04:19:36Z")
Well, North Dakota is one of the nine US states designated as Baja Canada (Idaho does not count because of the brevity of their border relative to the size of the state). ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/164 "2020-08-19T04:19:51Z")
Big in north central Montana, too. But we weren’t sophisticated. We just called them red beers. ---
**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 19, 2020, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/165 "2020-08-19T04:25:25Z")
Red beers. That’s golden. I assume you know what a Colorado Bulldog is, too? Good luck not getting a blank stare ordering one south of the northern plains from my experience. Shit, now I want one of those, too. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/166 "2020-08-19T04:30:50Z")
I don’t know what a Colorado Bulldog is, I’m afraid. My time spent in the great windswept plains of Havre, Montana was both brief and distant in time. I still remember the damn red beers, though. You could gag down the Budweiser with enough tomato/clamato juice added, and with enough dancing at the Elk’s Lodge, they were pretty good! ---
**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 19, 2020, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/167 "2020-08-19T04:32:26Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > I assume you know what a Colorado Bulldog is, too? Good luck not getting a blank stare ordering one south of the northern plains from my experience. > > Shit, now I want one of those, too. [googles Colorado Bulldog] I detest coke, but that looks _really_ good. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/168 "2020-08-19T04:34:37Z")
Ooohh. I have everything on hand to make one right now. The question is… should I? ---
**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 19, 2020, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/169 "2020-08-19T04:44:30Z")
The Bulldog tastes like chocolate milk. You won’t notice the Coke. But only use Coca-Cola. Anything else changes the taste. And a Caeser is made with vodka. Bloody Mary but with Clamato instead of tomato juice. Never with beer. Nor Budweiser. Though they market a version of that rice beer with Clamato. Try one. Just order a bloody and ask for the Clamato instead of tomato mix. Not an earthshattering difference but enough to notice. ---
**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 19, 2020, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/170 "2020-08-19T04:45:07Z")
Damn well invite us over if you do. 🤪 ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/171 "2020-08-19T04:46:18Z")
LOL, better hurry!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/172 "2020-08-19T04:51:24Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > And a Caeser is made with vodka. Bloody Mary but with Clamato instead of tomato juice. Never with beer. Nor Budweiser. /slapping forehead/ Of course you are right. I _am_ getting old. Bloody Caesar is a Bloody Mary made with Clamato, as you pointed out. (Red beers were still a thing in north central Montana in the early 80s. But nevermind!) And me a former bartender. 😊 ---
**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 19, 2020, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/173 "2020-08-19T04:56:11Z")
Also called a Red Eye mostly but Red Beer works too. Often served with a raw egg dropped in. Breakfast of Champions. _hic_ ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/174 "2020-08-19T05:00:49Z")
Urrrgghh. I’d managed to put the raw egg bit out of my mind. Thanks for the reminder. Mmmppfffhhhh. You’re right about this Colorado Bulldog! Tasty! ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/175 "2020-08-19T07:57:22Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > > [@Aspenglow](#): > > > > To be. Honestly, is it so much more trouble to say, “It needs TO BE fixed”? Gawd. > > Is this much more common now? I’ve always noted that as a quirk of Pittsburgh-ese (and surrounding areas) English. I grew up in central Ohio and I made it to my late 20s, with a university degree, before I found out that it’s a regional usage that’s seen as incorrect by many people. I would have assumed until then that it was completely standard American English, at least to the extent that anything can be. So if it used to just be a Pittsburgh thing, it has spread beyond that region. ---
**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 19, 2020, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/176 "2020-08-19T13:17:33Z")
I associate it most with Pittsburgh, but the usage does extend into Ohio. But that’s what I know as the geographic center of that usage. Here in Chicago, where we have plenty of our own non standard forms, I never heard it. ---
**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 19, 2020, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/177 "2020-08-19T13:20:00Z")
Looks like there actually is a map for it. > **[Grammar Girl - Quick and Dirty Tips](https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl/)** > > Mignon Fogarty is the founder of the Quick and Dirty Tips network and creator of Grammar Girl, which has been named one of Writer’s Digest’s 101 best websites for writers multiple times. She is also an inductee in the Podcasting Hall of Fame. So concentrated in the general Midwest area, and most particularly associated with Western Pennsylvania, but it has spread. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/178 "2020-08-19T15:07:57Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > “flouting” “intensive purposes” ??? It’s “intents and purposes”. > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > They’re both the same, for all intensive purposes. Hah! Just saw this after my reply. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/179 "2020-08-19T15:09:47Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > I grew up in central Ohio and I made it to my late 20s, with a university degree, before I found out that it’s a regional usage that’s seen as incorrect by many people. I would have assumed until then that it was completely standard American English, at least to the extent that anything can be. I grew up in Indiana, and it’s the same for me. I still have to remind myself, when I encounter people objecting to it, that, “Oh, yeah, some people think it’s wrong.” I will continue to use it. Just try to stop me! 😀 ---
**Author:** ![eburacum\_45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum_45/32/3385_2.png) [@eburacum\_45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum_45)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/180 "2020-08-19T15:27:16Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > To be. Honestly, is it so much more trouble to say, “It needs TO BE fixed”? Gawd. ‘It needs fixed’ is a fairly widespread construction in Scottish dialects. I suspect this is an American regionalism with a Scottish or northern English origin, and has a long and respectable history. But it might be completely unrelated. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156/181 "2020-08-19T15:47:43Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > The contraction of “could not have” is “couldn’t have.” Not “couldn’t of”. Sorry for a short rant but fuck I hate this. > [@Locrian](#): > > You and me both, buddy. Thing is, a lot of regional dialects pronounce it that way, so the typo will follow. Doesn’t nearly get up my gander up as much as “irregardless” does. 😃 Whenever I hear people say stuff like this I’m all like “hey! let me borrow you a grammar textbook!” Thankfully, I encounter less and less people saying stuff like this; my efforts must be working! 😛 I never encountered _borrow_ as a substitute for _loan_ until I had a girlfriend from Minnesota. I still can’t wrap my head around how this came to be a thing. And this remains one of my favorite Daniel Tosh jokes: > [@Daniel Tosh](#): > > My girlfriend says we’d have less arguments if I didn’t correct her all the time. I said ‘fewer’. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couldnt-of-couldnt-have/918156.md?page=10)