• TheMoose@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          I’m tired of seeing that argument to validate incorrect usage of words that already exist. Words mean things. People using a language incorrectly don’t get to just decide that the words they’re using mean something else now because that’s how they meant it. That’s not “growing and evolving”, it’s just using the language incorrectly and being too stubborn to admit a fault in themself and instead try to change the language to fit their lack of education about the language and its usage.

          The words “could”, “should”, or “would” followed by the word “of” is completely nonsensical and meaningless. It is a misunderstanding/misinterpretation of “could’ve”, “would’ve”, or “should’ve” being heard audibly because they sound similar. “Apart” literally means the opposite of “a part”, and, again, comes from a misunderstanding from hearing the word spoken rather than seeing it written down because it sounds the same.

          A perfect example of language evolving is the word “another”. It literally is the words “an” and “other” pushed together to form a single word and has the exact same meaning as that. Another example is the word “bosun”. It literally means “boatswain”, and comes from the word being shortened down in spoken communication, but is a completely made up word and has no prior meaning.

          Do not confuse incorrect usage of the language as growth and change.

          I’m sorry for coming off as an ass, I literally did not sleep last night and I’m very tired.

    • agent_flounder@lemmy.one
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      1 year ago

      More reading social media posts than reading books, probably. If one doesn’t make the connection between the sounds and the proper written word, then you might be more likely to make mistakes like “would of” instead of “would’ve” (which is my pet peeve, incidentally)