Typing the word bought as brought - genuine question

[Weegie Burd]

Before I ask my question I should point out that spelling is not my strong point, so please don't turn this thread into a spelling rant - especially against me.

I'm honestly curious about the latest 'trend' I've noticed of confusing the word brought, with bought.

An example would be (totally made up, not taken from anything I've read); "I once brought a tv in Curry's, it cost me £600..."

Is this a spell checker issue, or are people genuinely confusing the two words?

I'm just about getting my head around the use of 'of' instead of 'have'; another example (for those that don't know what I'm talking about) would be: " I should of bought the £600 tv at Currys."

In a way this makes sense because have, or 've, is often pronounced as 'of'. Or so it seems from watching the soaps.

But I can't get my head around bought becoming brought. Can someone please enlighten me?

Ohh, before anyone wonders, I've not actually noticed it on this forum, just thought I'd ask on here though as it's friendlier.

 

[Bertrand]

Not so hard to write "should've". Which, of course, Firefox spellchecker underlines in red. It clearly prefers "should of".

More common on this site is "discrete" for "discreet".

They're all a bit grating and require a re-read of the sentence not unlike mobile phone text messages.

 

[GabbyD]

A few years ago I took an editing job and I was amazed at the number of people doing the have/of thing. It blew my mind! I have learned that one is very common. I can't say I've seen the bought/brought error though.

 

[Weegie Burd]

Not so hard to write "should've". Which, of course, Firefox spellchecker underlines in red. It clearly prefers "should of".

More common on this site is "discrete" for "discreet".

They're all a bit grating and require a re-read of the sentence not unlike mobile phone text messages.

That's what I thought, it's the spell checker, rather than the user who is making this [annoying] mistake. It seemed to appear over night, and plague too many posts, for it to be an isolated thing.

A few years ago I took an editing job and I was amazed at the number of people doing the have/of thing. It blew my mind! I have learned that one is very common. I can't say I've seen the bought/brought error though.

I bet you'll now notice the bought/brought error.

I really hate people who point out things, that I'd otherwise not notice, that end up bugging me to the point I'm screaming at the computer.

 

[trog100]

i think i must be a bit weird i never notice spulling mistakes.. my brain must work a bit like a dvd player does and auto correct errors..

i see what was meant to be written.. my eye fills in and changes words without even knowing i am doing it..

i kinda read a sentence in one go without seeing the individual words never mind the letters.. a blessing when reading but a curse when writing.. i would make the worlds worse proof reader.. he he

one of my favourite free tools..

WordWeb Pro: English dictionary, thesaurus, and word finder software.

brought mean brung.. bought means buyed... he he he he

trog

 

[Bertrand]

I'm the opposite to trog. Very slow autocorrect. Even watching a movie, if they say something ungrammatical I have trouble parsing the sentence. Irritating. I put it down to too much programming: if you make a syntax error the compiler screams at you. (People who mainly use dynamic languages don't have this problem - their users scream at them instead.)

 

[ApOsTle51]

ppleoe can slitl raed a pssaage of winrtig when olny the fsirt and lsat leetrts rmiaen the smae, all riinemnag letetrs wihtin the wrod can be in any poiisotn. Tihs is buascee the bairn is mcuh lkie waht torg syas and has an atuo crrecot fruteae.
The biarn wlil raed the wlohe wrod baesd on the frsit and lsat lteetrs

oh yes ...'I brought my shopping home'

'i bought my groceries in the shop'

 

[spyderuk]

I avoid the bought/brought issue by using the word purchased.

 

[Weegie Burd]

I avoid the bought/brought issue by using the word purchased.

Fab.

 

[PeteMcArthur]

ppleoe can slitl raed a pssaage of winrtig when olny the fsirt and lsat leetrts rmiaen the smae, all riinemnag letetrs wihtin the wrod can be in any poiisotn. Tihs is buascee the bairn is mcuh lkie waht torg syas and has an atuo crrecot fruteae.
The biarn wlil raed the wlohe wrod baesd on the frsit and lsat lteetrs

oh yes ...'I brought my shopping home'

'i bought my groceries in the shop'

Like that Apo, I read it perfectly with only one slip-up bairn -> brain probably because "bairn" to me as a real word in normal use, so my brain got confused.

 

[Bertrand]

You don't read it nearly as quickly, though. It requires a concerted effort.

 

[spyderuk]

Or that famous line from Jimmy Carr?

"What happens if you spill carpet cleaner?"

 

[slianfoxob]

the of/have error really irks my tater...i mean seriously...it really really burns my spider

this is probably because it was drilled into my head by my 11th grade 20th century lit teacher.


Foxy

 

[youfillintheblank]

I avoid it by stealing.

I avoid the bought/brought issue by using the word purchased.

 

[Bertrand]

slian: prepositions get messed about quite often. Cf. Carlin:

About this time, someone is telling you to get on the plane. "Get on the plane. Get on the plane." I say, "Fu<k you, I'm getting IN the plane! IN the plane! Let Evil Knievel get ON the plane! I'll be in here with you folks in uniform! There seems to be less WIND in here!"

 

[trog100]

interesting stuff.. i think the excessive attention to the spoken and written word is an excluson thing.. its how the properly "educated" remain above the great unwashed..

any kind of jargon does the same thing.. keeps those who aint really part of the group out and maintains a social pecking order..

i get pleasure in breaking the rules sometimes.. those that stick by them hard and fast get very confused..

trog

 

[Bertrand]

Does to a certain extent, but I think the role of accent is more important here. (Don't have a citation, but....) There was an experiment using an "educated" and an "uneducated" accent reading exactly the same script to two audiences. "Educated" accent got lots of "well reasoned" whereas the "uneducated" accent got lots of "very convincing". (On the internet nobody can hear your accent, so perhaps the writing does play a greater role here.)

Precise language, (and precise meaning) is sometimes important, sometimes not. (Computers do seem to prefer it.) Jargon is great for making things both precise and concise within a group of practitioners. (Of course, in IT it tends to do the opposite because of all the marketing cruft and process worshippers.)

 

[nakli_dhumrapan]

The 'of' thing does appear in writing too, but isn't just a recent phenomenon - one can find texts a few hundred years ago in which sentences like 'I should of gone' appear (because in fluent speech the 'have' of 'I should have gone' is reduced essentially to 'uv').

But spell checkers can add additional weirdness....

 

[dc2k08]

i've seen the of/'ve thing and probably done it myself but i have never seen "brought" confused with "bought". are these words interchangeable in some dialects or is it just a typo?

 

[Weegie Burd]

I avoid it by stealing.

Ya swine, I almost spat my beer over the laptop when I read that.