Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Grammar frustration of the day

I know everyone thinks the life of, say, a trauma surgeon is hard, but it isn't. Well, it is, but it's not nearly as hard as it is to be an English major trapped in a world that, increasingly, thinks that grammar is just a stuffy old system of pointless rules and distracting regulations. Here's the thing that is annoying me today: when people hear someone say "he could have" or "he could've" and then write it down as "he could of." Yo, idiots. "Could've" is not short for "could of"--it is short for "could have." I know, I know, this really isn't that big a deal, and in the grand scheme of things is actually pretty pointless, but it brings up a larger complaint, which is that people don't even stop to think about what it is that they are saying. "Could of" literally makes no sense, yet people continue to write it as such. So, please, all of you, stop doing this.