I should of known...

[Qanda]

Why do some people like to use "should of" instead of the correct "should have"? They don't sound the same and are vastly different in spelling too. Any ideas?

[Medusa]

Maybe the way to pronounce "should've" is much like the way to pronounce "should of" (even if it is incorrect) and it then becomes habit to write "should of" because that's the way it sounds?

[Alex]

*twitch* That's one of my biggest peeves, I hate when people write it like that

Medusa said exactly what I was thinking. "Should've" is pronounced as "should of", so people probably assume that's the correct way to write it.

[_jade_em_]

"Should of" does not make any sense gramatically anyway ...

[Twisted Sanity]

Wow, I've been writing Should Of for the last few years without realising it

I shall now recify my error and will refrain from adding the "Of" next to "Should" and shall replace the said word with "Have" forming the correct phrase "Should Have"

[Qanda]

*twitch* That's one of my biggest peeves, I hate when people write it like that

Medusa said exactly what I was thinking. "Should've" is pronounced as "should of", so people probably assume that's the correct way to write it.

Funny, I always pronounce them as two separated words. Should. have.

[Shadowfare]

Well, do you say dunno? Don't.know
They're everywhere

[Kuri]

I think some people get into a habit of running words into each other. Should've almost sounds like it's should of... note I said almost. It's like sometimes people say "kind of" but lots of people type it as kinda.

[Kugetsu]

I think it has something to do with the perfect alignment of the planets and the magnetic force that is exerted onto the brain cells of the people. Once that happened, everyone suffered from a cranial overload. Now in a feeble attempt to put everything back in order, our brains are taking the shortest path possible that makes sense to the self. I think this happened sometime near the birth of rap....

...or we just do it because that's how society has effected us over the the last decade or so (I have no idea when this started). It's probably something that can't be explained (though what others have mentioned sound logical). Rap is still my number one suspect.

[Cassi]

As others have said, it's probably the "should've" thing. People say should've without thinking about it, and then it slowly starts to become should of, because they sound very similar. It just goes into their typing.

I say should've, but I usually type should have, because I think should've looks a bit odd.

And the topic title made me twitch. ::glares at Qanda:: =P

[Qanda]

And the topic title made me twitch. ::glares at Qanda:: =P

I love making topic titles which make people twitch... it demonstrates how annoying little things like that can be.

[WIS]

Hehe, I know somebody who keeps on writing "Should of" instead of "Should Have" or "Should've".

And yes, little things are sometimes rather annoying.

[Cassi]

And the topic title made me twitch. ::glares at Qanda:: =P

I love making topic titles which make people twitch... it demonstrates how annoying little things like that can be.

Yea...it was you who started that "sence" one too, wasn't it?

[Istanbullfrog]

I was going into this thread to correct you!

So my answer would be that people make all kinds of grammatical errors all the time, there/their/they're than/then, etc. Just chalk another one up for people abusing language and structure.

[Paul]

It's to do with strong accents mainly. 'Should've' sounds the same as 'Should of'