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‘Never Look Away’ Review: Lucy Lawless Directs a Doc About a Singular War Photographer Who Lived Life on Her Own Terms
#IndieWire #Criticism #Movies #Film #LucyLawless #Neverlookaway #Reviews -
‘Never Look Away’ Review: Lucy Lawless Directs a Doc About a Singular War Photographer Who Lived Life on Her Own Terms
#IndieWire #Criticism #Movies #Film #LucyLawless #Neverlookaway #Reviews -
‘Never Look Away’ Review: Lucy Lawless Directs a Doc About a Singular War Photographer Who Lived Life on Her Own Terms
#IndieWire #Criticism #Movies #Film #LucyLawless #Neverlookaway #Reviews -
Lucy Spraggan and Georgina Gordon at Sakku Samba in Manchester, April 21, 2023 #CelebrityPhotos #LucySpraggan http://whoischic.com/?p=70373
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Lucy Spraggan and Georgina Gordon at Sakku Samba in Manchester, April 21, 2023 #CelebrityPhotos #LucySpraggan http://whoischic.com/?p=70373
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Lucy Spraggan at Diva Magazine Awards in London, April 29, 2022 #CelebrityPhotos #LucySpraggan https://whoischic.com/?p=101622
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Lucy Spraggan at Diva Magazine Awards in London, April 29, 2022 #CelebrityPhotos #LucySpraggan https://whoischic.com/?p=101622
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Lucy Spraggan and Georgina Gordon at Sakku Samba in Manchester, April 21, 2023 #CelebrityPhotos #LucySpraggan https://whoischic.com/lucy-spraggan-and-georgina-gordon-at-sakku-samba-in-manchester-april-21-2023/?feed_id=5706&_unique_id=66af3a2e4b2cf
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CW: Physics article discussing origins of shame, monogamy? Really!? CW: Patriarchy; matriarchy. Maybe considered nudity by some.
I am posting this for speculative fiction and fantasy writers who want to create truly alien human cultures. Consider this excellent but also unthinking poorly analyzed article (IMHO). The author's culture gets in the way.
https://phys.org/news/2024-06-million-year-lucy-fossil-reveals.html
There is a distinct bias toward patriarchy in this article and the assumption that monogamy was necessary evolutionarily without supporting evidence. Relatedness for the sake of child care can't be clearer if uncles and brothers are the somehow essential male care providers, not some random "father". Matrilineal cultures likely existed until the idea of Indo-Europeans property rights through the male line took over our cultures 6-8 millennia ago. Archeological finds support this. That is the origin of shame, to control women's sexuality at the price of female self-determination to force property rights solely down a patrilineal line.
Humans haven't always lived the way they do now, nor must they in the future.
A thought provoking article—in many ways.
#Archaeology #Patriarchy #Matriarchy #Monogamy #human #Evolution #Anthropology #Culture #Society #indoeuropeen #matriarchy #Fiction #SpeculativeFiction #ScienceFiction #SF #Writer #Writing #Author #WritersOfMastodon #WritingCommunity #specfiction #WomensRights #women.
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CW: Physics article discussing origins of shame, monogamy? Really!? CW: Patriarchy; matriarchy. Maybe considered nudity by some.
I am posting this for speculative fiction and fantasy writers who want to create truly alien human cultures. Consider this excellent but also unthinking poorly analyzed article (IMHO). The author's culture gets in the way.
https://phys.org/news/2024-06-million-year-lucy-fossil-reveals.html
There is a distinct bias toward patriarchy in this article and the assumption that monogamy was necessary evolutionarily without supporting evidence. Relatedness for the sake of child care can't be clearer if uncles and brothers are the somehow essential male care providers, not some random "father". Matrilineal cultures likely existed until the idea of Indo-Europeans property rights through the male line took over our cultures 6-8 millennia ago. Archeological finds support this. That is the origin of shame, to control women's sexuality at the price of female self-determination to force property rights solely down a patrilineal line.
Humans haven't always lived the way they do now, nor must they in the future.
A thought provoking article—in many ways.
#Archaeology #Patriarchy #Matriarchy #Monogamy #human #Evolution #Anthropology #Culture #Society #indoeuropeen #matriarchy #Fiction #SpeculativeFiction #ScienceFiction #SF #Writer #Writing #Author #WritersOfMastodon #WritingCommunity #specfiction #WomensRights #women.
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CW: Physics article discussing origins of shame, monogamy? Really!? CW: Patriarchy; matriarchy. Maybe considered nudity by some.
I am posting this for speculative fiction and fantasy writers who want to create truly alien human cultures. Consider this excellent but also unthinking poorly analyzed article (IMHO). The author's culture gets in the way.
https://phys.org/news/2024-06-million-year-lucy-fossil-reveals.html
There is a distinct bias toward patriarchy in this article and the assumption that monogamy was necessary evolutionarily without supporting evidence. Relatedness for the sake of child care can't be clearer if uncles and brothers are the somehow essential male care providers, not some random "father". Matrilineal cultures likely existed until the idea of Indo-Europeans property rights through the male line took over our cultures 6-8 millennia ago. Archeological finds support this. That is the origin of shame, to control women's sexuality at the price of female self-determination to force property rights solely down a patrilineal line.
Humans haven't always lived the way they do now, nor must they in the future.
A thought provoking article—in many ways.
#Archaeology #Patriarchy #Matriarchy #Monogamy #human #Evolution #Anthropology #Culture #Society #indoeuropeen #matriarchy #Fiction #SpeculativeFiction #ScienceFiction #SF #Writer #Writing #Author #WritersOfMastodon #WritingCommunity #specfiction #WomensRights #women.
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CW: Physics article discussing origins of shame, monogamy? Really!? CW: Patriarchy; matriarchy. Maybe considered nudity by some.
I am posting this for speculative fiction and fantasy writers who want to create truly alien human cultures. Consider this excellent but also unthinking poorly analyzed article (IMHO). The author's culture gets in the way.
https://phys.org/news/2024-06-million-year-lucy-fossil-reveals.html
There is a distinct bias toward patriarchy in this article and the assumption that monogamy was necessary evolutionarily without supporting evidence. Relatedness for the sake of child care can't be clearer if uncles and brothers are the somehow essential male care providers, not some random "father". Matrilineal cultures likely existed until the idea of Indo-Europeans property rights through the male line took over our cultures 6-8 millennia ago. Archeological finds support this. That is the origin of shame, to control women's sexuality at the price of female self-determination to force property rights solely down a patrilineal line.
Humans haven't always lived the way they do now, nor must they in the future.
A thought provoking article—in many ways.
#Archaeology #Patriarchy #Matriarchy #Monogamy #human #Evolution #Anthropology #Culture #Society #indoeuropeen #matriarchy #Fiction #SpeculativeFiction #ScienceFiction #SF #Writer #Writing #Author #WritersOfMastodon #WritingCommunity #specfiction #WomensRights #women.
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#nativeamerican #LucyNicolarPoolaw #Wa-Tah-So #Wahtawaso #Princess #Wahtawaso #BrightStar #musician #activism #history
Lucy Nicolar Poolaw (1882-1969) (aka Wa-Tah-Wa-So, aka Wahtawaso, aka Princess Wahtawaso, aka Bright Star) the daughter of Joseph Nicolar - Penobscot. Photo by Randolph M. Howe. A talented musician who spent her life mixing entertainment with political activism.
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@[email protected]
Emily knew their neighbour was a demon. She was the only one who could see her true face and 'Lucy' as she liked to call herself knew it.
So she made a deal. Not the usual one - no, this was simply for Lucy to leave Emily and her family alone.
In exchange, she would provide names of likely candidates for deals.
As her husband was a manager in an oil company, she got to meet lots of candidates. Ones the world was better without.
Even Pastor Jones could not find fault with it.#SecretSciFiNetwork #Midjourney #WritingPrompt #SciFi #faustian #butnotreally #Microfiction #Microfic #tootfic #IAmWriting #Microfiction #Microfic #tootfic #IAmWriting
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@[email protected]
Emily knew their neighbour was a demon. She was the only one who could see her true face and 'Lucy' as she liked to call herself knew it.
So she made a deal. Not the usual one - no, this was simply for Lucy to leave Emily and her family alone.
In exchange, she would provide names of likely candidates for deals.
As her husband was a manager in an oil company, she got to meet lots of candidates. Ones the world was better without.
Even Pastor Jones could not find fault with it.#SecretSciFiNetwork #Midjourney #WritingPrompt #SciFi #faustian #butnotreally #Microfiction #Microfic #tootfic #IAmWriting #Microfiction #Microfic #tootfic #IAmWriting
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@[email protected]
Emily knew their neighbour was a demon. She was the only one who could see her true face and 'Lucy' as she liked to call herself knew it.
So she made a deal. Not the usual one - no, this was simply for Lucy to leave Emily and her family alone.
In exchange, she would provide names of likely candidates for deals.
As her husband was a manager in an oil company, she got to meet lots of candidates. Ones the world was better without.
Even Pastor Jones could not find fault with it.#SecretSciFiNetwork #Midjourney #WritingPrompt #SciFi #faustian #butnotreally #Microfiction #Microfic #tootfic #IAmWriting #Microfiction #Microfic #tootfic #IAmWriting
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@[email protected]
Emily knew their neighbour was a demon. She was the only one who could see her true face and 'Lucy' as she liked to call herself knew it.
So she made a deal. Not the usual one - no, this was simply for Lucy to leave Emily and her family alone.
In exchange, she would provide names of likely candidates for deals.
As her husband was a manager in an oil company, she got to meet lots of candidates. Ones the world was better without.
Even Pastor Jones could not find fault with it.#SecretSciFiNetwork #Midjourney #WritingPrompt #SciFi #faustian #butnotreally #Microfiction #Microfic #tootfic #IAmWriting #Microfiction #Microfic #tootfic #IAmWriting
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I can't get enough of Sam, Lucy and Julian's hotel task. I would watch a whole series of them running a hotel. In a different context, their attempt could even be a great horror movie!
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I can't get enough of Sam, Lucy and Julian's hotel task. I would watch a whole series of them running a hotel. In a different context, their attempt could even be a great horror movie!
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I can't get enough of Sam, Lucy and Julian's hotel task. I would watch a whole series of them running a hotel. In a different context, their attempt could even be a great horror movie!
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I can't get enough of Sam, Lucy and Julian's hotel task. I would watch a whole series of them running a hotel. In a different context, their attempt could even be a great horror movie!
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Paddington in Peru | Official Trailer | StudiocanalUK | November 8 (UK)
PADDINGTON IN PERU brings Paddington's story to Peru as he returns to visit his beloved Aunt Lucy, who now resides at the Home for Retired Bears. With the Brown Family in tow, a thrilling adventure ensues when a mystery plunges them into an unexpected journey through the Amazon rainforest and up to the mountain peaks of Peru.
#PaddingtonInPeru #StudiocanalUK #OfficialTrailer #Entertainment #Movies -
Lucy Liu’s favourite comedy movie of all time
(Credits: Miramax / YouTube Still) Sun 23 November 2025 9:30, UK There aren’t many icons of comedy who…
#NewsBeep #News #Movies #BeingThere #Entertainment #LucyLiu #PeterSellers #UK #UnitedKingdom
https://www.newsbeep.com/uk/279045/ -
Would of, could of, might of, must of
When we say would have, could have, should have, must have, might have, may have and ought to have, we often put some stress on the modal auxiliary and none on the have. We may show this in writing by abbreviating to could’ve, must’ve, etc. (Would can contract further by merging with the subject: We would have → We’d’ve.)
Unstressed ’ve is phonetically identical (/əv/) to unstressed of: hence the widespread misspellings would of, could of, should of, must of, might of, may of, and ought to of. Negative forms also appear: shouldn’t of, mightn’t of, etc. This explanation – that misanalysis of the notorious schwa lies behind the error – has general support among linguists.
The mistake dates to at least 1837, according to the OED, so it has probably been infuriating pedants for almost 200 years. Common words spelt incorrectly provoke particular ire, sometimes accompanied by aspersions cast on the writer’s intelligence, fitness for society, degree of evolution, and so on. But there’s no need for any of that.
Usage authorities unanimously call it a mistake, though some allow for its deliberate use (more on that below). Many associate it specifically with children and other less educated writers. For example, Garner’s Dictionary of Modern American Usage finds it a practice of ‘semiliterate writers’, and accepts no excuses: ‘the word is have, or a contraction ending in ’ve, and it should be written so.’
Merriam-Webster’s Pocket Guide to English Usage says ‘children and those who have not completed grammar school may have an excuse for making this mistake, but most others do not.’ What’s meant by that most is what we’ll now consider: that the misspellings don’t always indicate carelessness or relative illiteracy.
The Columbia Guide to Standard American English finds room for the anomalous forms as a stylistic device:
substituting of for ’ve in writing can be an example of eye dialect, which deliberately misspells words to suggest Nonstandard or dialectal speech. . . . The important thing is to correct it when it isn’t intentional.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage elaborates on this, saying writers use the spelling ‘to create an unlettered persona’. It cites several examples, including a ‘he’d of got me’ from F. Scott Fitzgerald, who ‘used the spelling to represent the speech of a woman who was not overeducated’, as MWDEU politely puts it.
Here is must of in an intertitle in the Buster Keaton film Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928):
And in Josef von Sternberg’s 1928 The Docks of New York:
Over the last number of years, I’ve seen the non-standard of-form in many books by authors who presumably knew what they were doing:
‘I could of sworn I’d run into you some place before.’ (Carson McCullers, The Member of the Wedding)
‘Oh Miz, oh Miz,’ he moaned, rubbing his leg. ‘You shouldn’t of done that, you shouldn’t, you reely shouldn’t.’ (Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar)
‘All bloody and mucked up, with figuring away aboard the Vénus, when two minutes would of changed it.’ (Patrick O’Brian, The Mauritius Command)
‘I’d of liked to be stabbed – and have lashings of red paint.’ (Agatha Christie, Dead Man’s Folly)
‘Never should of married‘ (Dylan Thomas, Under Milk Wood)
‘See, they must of had them already saddled.’ (Elmore Leonard, The Law at Randado)
‘If I hadn’t of got my tubes tied, it could of been me, say I was ten years younger.’ (Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale)
‘You could of just told him.’ (Raymond Chandler, The Long Good-bye)
‘You could of said no and I could of not believed you.’ (Raymond Chandler, The Long Good-bye)
‘She must of grabbed some pills.’ (Raymond Chandler, The Long Good-bye)
‘You ought to of asked for me in the first place.’ (Raymond Chandler, ‘Trouble Is My Business’, in Trouble Is My Business)
‘Maybe I had ought to of gone to the servant’s entrance.’ (Raymond Chandler, ‘Trouble Is My Business’, in Trouble Is My Business)
‘Youve never seen anything so mad, the lassie couldnt of known what kind of nut house she was in.’ (Alan Warner, Morvern Callar)
‘I don’t suppose he would remember you,’ the woman said thoughtfully. ‘Seems like he would of mentioned you sometimes if he did.’ (Shirley Jackson, ‘The Lie’, in Let Me Tell You)
‘He shouldn’t of done it, that’s all’ (Shirley Jackson, ‘Root of Evil’, in Let Me Tell You)
‘My wife,’ he said, putting his elbows on the counter and still watching Judith, ‘my wife, you ought to of heard her when she thought I was going.’ (Shirley Jackson, ‘Homecoming’, in Let Me Tell You)
‘If he’d of been a friend of mine you would have said plenty, believe me,” Mrs. Royster said darkly. (Shirley Jackson, ‘The Daemon Lover’)
‘She sure must of been glad to see him, the way he looked,’ the old man said. (Shirley Jackson, ‘The Daemon Lover’)
‘I never saw him,’ the clerk in the drugstore said. ‘I know because I would of noticed the flowers.’ (Shirley Jackson, ‘The Daemon Lover’)
‘If you had of been dead, you’d of had a funeral. I only just thought a that now. I’d of went along.’ (Claire Kilroy, The Devil I Know)
Mabey I shoudnt of let them oparate on my branes like she said if its agenst god. (Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon)
Now that makes me feel bad because I would never of hurt the baby. (Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon)
‘I should of had my head examined.’ (Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon)
‘She should of got it lit before we arrived.’ (Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters)
‘Maybe you should of shot us when we was far away.’ (Chris Cleave, The Other Hand)
‘If he’d been an animal, he’d of been the runt of the litter and we’d of put him down.’ (Gillian Flynn, Dark Places)
‘I could of used the money,’ Donna said. ‘That’s what I was thinking.’ […] ‘It’s true,’ she said. ‘I could of used the money.’ (Raymond Carver, ‘Vitamins’, in Cathedral)
‘And here I’d of sworn…’ He took another try at the coffee cup, registered surprise to find it empty. (James Sallis, Drive)
‘Figured they must of took you when they took Ellis.’ (James Sallis, Bluebottle)
Must of been May 14 as May 12 is my birthday and it was by way of a late present. (Minette Walters, The Ice House)
‘You could of got it from the paper.’ (Minette Walters, The Sculptress)
‘You should of shown me this last time.’ (Minette Walters, The Sculptress)
‘She went guilty so she must of done it.’ (Minette Walters, The Sculptress)
Yorkin cringed. ‘Me. Pierce told me to clip him. I shouldn’t of done it by the drop.’ (James Ellroy, L. A. Confidential)
‘That sure could of been true,’ says the clerk at the Salon City store (Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild)
‘I must of fell asleep, eh?’
‘I guess you must have,’ said Isserley. (Michel Faber, Under the Skin)Then one day, it must of rained, and man discovered a new place: indoors. (Philomena Cunk, Cunk on Everything)
And where that monkey might of come from. (Philomena Cunk, Cunk on Everything)
I would of put loads more dinosaurs in. (Philomena Cunk, Cunk on Everything)
‘Donnie, we’d of finished this Betamax deal in ten days. And we’d have had winter money, all three of us.’ (Joseph D. Pistone with Richard Woodley, Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia)
‘And who else could of built it?’ Mr Madden shouted. (Brian Moore, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne)
Sheila, the woodshed, should of paddled you sooner. (Brian Moore, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne)
‘You went had in there. Stark mad. You’d have raped her if . . .’
‘I’d of what?‘ (Brian Moore, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne)‘I never should of come here.’ (Brian Moore, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne)
‘Whether Miriam would of been any different, I don’t know, but I’d say she’d of been worse.’ (Patrician Highsmith, Strangers on a Train)
‘I’d of thought Mrs Herman was the last person in the world to—’ (Dashiell Hammett, The Dain Curse)
…the marshal hadn’t taken any of the Collinsons’ property though of course he might of. (Dashiell Hammett, The Dain Curse)
‘I wouldn’t of flagged that taxi if the For Hire flag hadn’t been up.’ (Dashiell Hammet, ‘Fly Paper’, in The Big Knockover and other stories)
”F he’d of been a man I’d of seen him in hell ‘fore I’d of gave it to him.’ (Dashiell Hammett, ‘Corkscrew’, in The Big Knockover and other stories)
‘They may of gone,’ he said slowly. (Dashiell Hammett, ‘The Golden Horseshoe’, in The Continental Op)
‘But he must of gone through the house and out front . . .’ (Dashiell Hammett, ‘The Girls with the Silver Eyes’, in The ContinentalOp)
‘Anybody could of got in them with a ladder.’ (Dashiell Hammett, ‘The Farewell Murder’, in The Continental Op)
‘Well, we would of if she hadn’t put the two X’s to me the same as she done to you’ . . . ‘but if my rod hadn’t of got snagged in my flogger you wouldn’t have seen nothing else.’ (Dashiell Hammett, ‘The Whosis Kid’, in The Continental Op)
‘If I’d known you five years ago I’d of given it to you.’ (Sara Paretsky, ‘The Maltese Cat’, in Windy City Blues)
‘Mate, I’ve probably said enough already. More than I should of (taps nose) . . . Professional conduct an’ all that.’ (Nicola Barker, Darkmans)
‘Yes, and if the bastard hadn’t of moved I’d have got him, too.’ (Alexander Masters, Stuart: A Life Backwards)
‘I’m Billy Baker. Your Daddy might of talked about me, called me Space?’ (Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, Preacher) (pictured and quoted below: Preacher no. 2: Proud Americans)
”Cause I hope I ain’t outta line here, but I think he’d of been cool about you hearin’ it…’ (Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, Preacher)
‘He was stupid an’ clumsy an’ kind of a weakling, an’ he wouldn’t of lasted a fuckin’ day over there if it hadn’t been for one thing’ (Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, Preacher)
‘See, we’d of done Murphy there an’ then, we’d of had to do Van Patten as well — an’ I knew your Daddy didn’t really wanna do that.’ (Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, Preacher)
The Dunns must of felt this when Tracy vanished. (Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Sower)
‘She must of really gotten knocked out.’ (Jonathan Lethem, Girl in Landscape)
‘He’s not around now, or you’d of met him.’ (Jonathan Lethem, Girl in Landscape)
‘They could of just been losing us,’ said Coney. (Jonathan Lethem, Motherless Brooklyn)
‘Your parents must of been hippies,’ he’d tell me. (Jonathan Lethem, Motherless Brooklyn)
‘He might of been a little impatient for his date with Frank.’ (Jonathan Lethem, Motherless Brooklyn)
‘If it weren’t for Gilbert I would of told him to stick it—’ (Jonathan Lethem, Motherless Brooklyn)
‘Oh, I’d of straightened it out,’ Tony said. (Jonathan Lethem, Motherless Brooklyn)
‘Each one of them, he says it might of been you, it might of been two other guys.’ (Robert Anton Wilson, The Universe Next Door)
‘You must of been back on the reservation eating peyote again.’ (Robert Anton Wilson, The Universe Next Door)
‘And it wouldn’t of mattered to me whether you did or did not like women.’ (George Pelecanos, Drama City)
‘I wouldn’t of thought of such a thing in a million years.’ (George Pelecanos, The Big Blowdown)
‘If you hadn’t of stepped in the middle of everything—’ (George Pelecanos, The Big Blowdown)
It would of done no good gettin’ somebody else te scratch it for me because that was a sin as well. (Frances Molloy, No Mate for the Magpie)
‘Been calling all night. Four, five calls, must of been.’ (Lawrence Block, A Ticket to the Boneyard)
‘Six-thirty or so, you must of just got on your way to Maspeth, guy goes out back with a load of kitchen garbage.’ (Lawrence Block, A Dance at the Slaughterhouse)
‘Another minute and I would of made it, you rats.’ (Lawrence Block, No Score)
‘Now if you would of done this we wouldn’t have any trouble.’ (Lawrence Block, No Score)
‘Need a social security card,’ he said. ‘You must of had one, I guess.’ (Lawrence Block, Chip Harrison Scores Again)
‘Guess they must of been chafing you some on that bus ride.’ (Lawrence Block, Chip Harrison Scores Again)
‘You might not of noticed yesterday but he’s only got one hand.’ (Ron Rash, The Cove)
‘Would he of died?’ (Alison Bechdel, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic)
‘Pete should of told me,’ he said. (Donald Westlake, Good Behavior)
‘Okay,’ Dortmunder said. ‘Could be worse. She could of been wearing her habit, right?’ (Donald Westlake, Good Behavior)
‘Wound up, it took him forty-eight years to serve a ten-year sentence that he should of got out in three.’ (Donald Westlake, Good Behavior)
‘She has on a pair of bikinis I couldn’t of got into when I was ten years old.’ (Elmore Leonard, Mr. Paradise)
‘We could’ve settled, the city pays out a few bucks, it wouldn’t of cost you a dime.’ (Elmore Leonard, Mr. Paradise)
‘You know what I sor?’ said the child patiently. ‘Well, the train must of stopped, see, and some little men with bundles on their backs got on.’ (Mavis Gallant, ‘Up North’, in The Omnibus of 20th Century Ghost Stories, edited by Robert Phillips)
‘You two might of settled down and had a nice baby or something.’ (John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces)
‘Maybe you should of looked around some more.’ (John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces)
‘He must of gone to the show.’ (John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces)
‘I shouldn’t of toog you id,’ Angelo breathed. ‘I got nerbous.’
‘It was all my fault,’ Mrs Reilly said, ‘for trying to protect that Ignatius. I should of let you lock him away, Angelo.’ (John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces)‘I don’t think I’d of wanted to go down there even for the Grape-Nuts. But maybe if we’d’ve gone real fast . . .’ (Harlan Ellison, ‘Sensible City’, in The Dead that Walk, edited by Stephen Jones)
‘You could of killed someone!’ (Neil Gaiman, Death: The High Cost of Living)
‘There’s a lot of places round here you could of bin.’ (Neil Gaiman, Death: The High Cost of Living)
‘If she’d stuck around, I could of asked her advice. I bet she could of come up with somewhere to put you that no one would think of lookin’, not if you paid them ready money.’ (Neil Gaiman, Death: The High Cost of Living)
‘If you’d gotten into a fight with that swordarm of yours, there’d of been bodies all over’ (Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, Lone Wolf and Cub, vol. 2: The Gateless Barrier, translated by Dana Lewis)
‘It ain’t right I wasn’t there because if I had of been there I would of known.’ (Flannery O’Connor, A Good Man is Hard to Find)’The other vics probably would have lived if Lewin hadn’t of made that play.’ (George Pelecanos, Shame the Devil)
‘I should of thought of that my own self.’ (George Pelecanos, Shame the Devil)
‘If you’d gone in right away, you would of got him, none of this would of happened. . . . I’d of got off! You think I’d of stood around that roadblock for seven hours?’ (Richard Stark, Slayground)
‘That guy talks pretty big, Cory. We should of called his bluff right there.’ (Richard Stark, Ask the Parrot)
‘Everything screws up, it just gets worse and worse, we should never of got into this, we’re fuckups, that’s all, we’re just fuckups.’ (Richard Stark, Comeback)
‘Might of slipped in and out, nobody the wiser, except we were already on the scene, account of Parmitt being gone.’ (Richard Stark, Flashfire)
‘Couldn’t you of – oh, he was ignorant in his speech – couldn’t you of prevented it?’ (Hilary Mantel, Beyond Black)
‘I should of thought to bring a sun lounger, from the garden centre,’ Mart said. (Hilary Mantel, Beyond Black)
‘He could of been,’ her mother said vaguely. (Hilary Mantel, Beyond Black)
When she provoked him and he was in a temper with her, he would say, count your blessings, girl, you fink I’m bad but you could of had MacArthur. You could have had Bob Fox, or Aitkenside, or Pikey Pete. You could have had my mate Keef Capstick. You could of had Nick, and then where’d you be? (Hilary Mantel, Beyond Black)
He shouldn’t of been near enough . . . (Donal Ryan, ‘Aisling’, in A Slanting of the Sun)
Stupid idea anyway I dont think he ever wud of really done it. (Paul Murray, The Bee Sting – this example is from a teenager’s text message)
But if she hadn’t of drank she would never have seen him at all and better that she was there she thought where she could at least try to keep some grip on him before he lost the run of himself completely (Paul Murray, The Bee Sting)
Lar thought about it They must of gone out on a job he said (Paul Murray, The Bee Sting)
I wonder what kind of life you might have had, if you hadn’t of been dragged back here. (Paul Murray, The Bee Sting)
I paid a man to write it he says He must of never sent it at all (Paul Murray, The Bee Sting)
I wish someone had of told me you croak into his shoulder (Paul Murray, The Bee Sting)
Lars frowns Choosing his words He didn’t think you should of married Dickie he says (Paul Murray, The Bee Sting)
U SHUD OF TOLD ME I CUD OF SHOWD U AROUD!!!! (Paul Murray, The Bee Sting, text message)
‘Hell, if I knew I was sitting on a gold mine, I’d of sold ’em a long time ago.’ (Jim Dodge, Not Fade Away)
‘And he couldn’t of loved me because he took away my kid, he’s off someplace where I can’t never see him.’ (James Baldwin, Another Country)
‘But I would of died for my kid, I wouldn’t never of let anything happen to him.’ (James Baldwin, Another Country)
‘I couldn’t of done nothing else,’ he cried, ‘what else could I of done? Where could I of gone with Esther, and me a preacher, too? And what could I of done with you?’ (James Baldwin, Go Tell It on the Mountain)
‘Must of had a heart attack or something!?’ (Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin, Tank Girl One):
A curious example in Jim Nesbit’s novel Lethal Injection, which suggests an attempted copy-editing or proofreading fix that stopped halfway: changing “would of” to “would’ve” but not deleting the “of”. Or maybe it’s else entirely:
The example below, from alt-manga historian Ryan Holmberg’s The Translator Without Talent, is from The Marvel Times, a pretend-newspaper about comics that he created on his twelfth birthday. So its must of is probably not deliberate and also completely forgivable:
Such phrases appear often in Cormac McCarthy’s novels. Here are some from Cities of the Plain, all used in dialogue:
You’d never of knowed it though.
I wouldn’t of wrote home for nothin.
Looks like they’d of learned to stay out of it.
Johnny if he hadnt of found that girl would of found somethin else.
And there was nothin any mortal man could of done to of stopped it.
And from Blood Meridian:
No, No, he said. I mean ye was lost to of come here.
It might of been a mule.
Somebody ought to of pickled it a long time ago.
Must of been a thousand indians in there all settin around.
He appears to of spoke for hisself.
I couldnt of learned it off ten dutchmen.
Him and the governor they sat up till breakfast and it was Paris this and London that in five languages, you’d of give something to of heard them.
Don’t you know he’d of took you with him? He’d of took you, boy.
Glanton spat. Ort to of shot that one too, he said.
Well, he said. I’d of thought any damn fool could saw the barrels off a shotgun.
That old boy you bought them off of might of said they was injins but that dont make it so.
The man didnt answer.
Them ears could of come off of cannibals . . .You wouldnt of lived anyway, the man said.
And from All the Pretty Horses:
They might as well of, he said.
Otherwise I’d of been born in Alabama.
…it was a mistake not to of told you.
But if it hadnt of been for her I wouldnt of made it.
He might well could of
Might well could of is also a nice example of a double modal. The [modal]-of construction is used frequently throughout Chris Cleave’s remarkable novel Incendiary:
She was like that was Mena. Philosophical. I’d definitely of killed myself if it hadn’t of been for her.
If you could of looked in my eyes you’d of seen the same thing I shouldn’t wonder.
I wouldn’t of come near you I’d never of let you touch me you should be ashamed.
Most notably in this exchange between two people only one of whom uses it dialectally:
– He would of said something.
– Maybe he wouldn’t have.
– Wouldn’t you of?A remarkable example in A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore uses it without a preceding modal, in the speech of a young child:
‘You got brown eyes,’ she said. ‘I of brown eyes.’
Searching the Corpus of Contemporary American English for the string would of [v*], where [v*] is a verb, produces the graph below. It shows that the of-form’s predominant setting is fiction, usually ‘would of been’, and it also shows up in transcription of actual speech, as in the academic and newspaper instances. You can click through the image to view examples, sources, and further information at COCA.
The magazine data are false positives (‘we’d have a better chance of achieving a breakthrough in quantum gravity than we would of figuring out how to reliably connect with teenagers’), but you get an idea of the construction’s low frequency and particular genre distribution.
Plotting could of [v*] usages over time, using the related Corpus of Historical American English, suggests the construction may have peaked. Or is that just wishful thinking? Again, you can click on this graph for details, or open it in another tab.
Of 1000 occurrences of could/would of in the Oxford English Corpus, about 850 are from ‘representations of direct speech (mostly from the Fiction domain, but also from interviews and courtroom transcripts)’. That leaves 150 genuine written instances of could/would of, compared with 4 million examples of standard could/would have. I can’t help picturing a global battalion of editors keeping it firmly at bay.
The of-form is not frequent in edited prose, but it appears quite often in casual writing and it has been around a while. Does that count for much? MWDEU says its prolonged use has ‘not made it respectable’, and recommends avoiding it – including in transcriptions of real speech, since ’ve serves the purpose equally well. I agree, and I think if someone explicitly says of, and stresses it, that might warrant a ‘[sic]’.
Regular readers know I like to make room for literary effect and poetic licence, but I have never warmed to this mistake. Every time I see it – be its use naive or intentional – I want to fix it. Authenticity of dialect and character are all well and good, but I think the main effect of the deliberate usage in edited prose is further uncertainty and error (not to mention irritation, in some quarters). What do you think?
Updates:
Years after writing this, I’ve softened considerably on the modal-of construction. This is partly because of exposure to its use by so many great writers, and also because it’s a good example of language change – a natural, essential characteristic of a living language. See my post on reconciling descriptivism with editing for more discussion.
I’ve come across many more examples in books, and have added them to the sets above and below. @desktopenglish on Twitter drew my attention to this BBC article that quotes a footballer saying he ‘Shouldn’t of reacted the way I did’.
What sounds to me like a good audio example comes from author Zadie Smith on the Adam Buxton Podcast. This link should cue the player automatically at 15:50, but if it doesn’t, that’s the time stamp. The relevant exchange is as follows, discussing Smith’s father:
Smith: He was very uptight about time, yeah.
Buxton: It rubbed off on you.
Smith: It must of, yeah.
Medievalist Lucy Allen found the line ‘For methowte I wold not for my life a sen it fallen’ in a 14thC religious text, The Shewings of Julian of Norwich. Translating it as ‘I thought I would not for my life of seen it fall’ [underlines mine], she writes: ‘it’s always fun when you notice something in a medieval text that is a dead ringer for one of the “modern” mistakes that horrify the pearl-clutchers’.
David Crystal adds further historical commentary in his book Making Sense: The Glamorous Story of English Grammar:
On 5 September 1819 the poet John Keats sends an apologetic letter to his publisher John Taylor, in which he writes:
Had I known of your illness I should not of written in such fierry phrase in my first Letter.
‘Should not of written’? From such a great poet? It must have been just a slip, because later on in the same letter he writes ‘You should not have delayed.’ What interests me is to find this confusion 200 years ago. It isn’t just a modern thing, as some critics say. That identity in pronunciation between the preposition of and the unstressed form of the auxiliary verb have has been around a long time.
Morph, a linguistics blog by the Surrey Morphology Group at the University of Surrey, has a great post on different aspects of the modal-of usage: ‘What’s the good of “would of”?’
Lots of examples in Anne Tyler’s If Morning Ever Comes, spoken by several different characters (of different ages, backgrounds, and ethnicities):
‘You mustn’t of been but twelve or so but I remembered.’
‘You shouldn’t of mentioned breakfast, boy,’ he said.
‘Course I think he could of made a better choice in wives, but then Sally’s right pretty and I reckon I can see his point in picking her.’
‘You know, when I was a boy we’d of been plumb through town by now.’
‘If we’d of known,’ she said, ‘I’d of cleaned up house a little.’
‘Folks tell me I take too good care of him, so it can’t of been that he got too cold. Though he is right much of a puddle-wader, that could’ve done it.’ [Note nearby use of could’ve.]
‘I don’t guess my letter would of made any change in him one way or the other.’
‘If I’d of married Jamie,” she said, “I would of had a different family.’
‘Well, if it hadn’t of been her, it’d been someone else.’
‘She mustn’t of seen us.’
Ross Macdonald also makes regular use of the construction:
‘If they knew they had a buyer, they might of stayed in business to accommodate you.’ (Ross Macdonald, The Blue Hammer)
‘I wish I could of died instead of him.’ (Ross Macdonald, The Blue Hammer)
‘The other man took them, he must of.’ (Ross Macdonald, The Galton Case)
‘He must of got away.’ (Ross Macdonald, The Galton Case)
‘He must of fell down on the knife and stabbed himself.’ (Ross Macdonald, The Galton Case)
‘He would of killed him too.’ (Ross Macdonald, The Galton Case)
‘When Culligan came marching out, armed up to the teeth, you could of knocked me over with a ‘dozer.’ (Ross Macdonald, The Galton Case)
‘Lucky for him I was out, or I’d of shown him what’s what.’ (Ross Macdonald, The Galton Case)
‘You were just a tiny baby, but that wouldn’t of stopped him.’ (Ross Macdonald, The Galton Case)
As does Elmore Leonard; these are from The Hot Kid:
Emmett Long kept looking at him. ‘You had a gun you’d of shot me, huh?’
‘I’d of shoved the ice cream cone up his goddamn nose.’
What Oris did, he got mad, changed the name of the company from Busy Bee Oil & Gas – a cartoon bumblebee in the trademark they’d of had one day – to NMD Oil & Gas, standing for No More Dusters, and worked a year as a driller to restore his capital.
‘The only one I told was Emmett,’ Carl said. ‘It had to of been Crystal told the papers.’
She had to wonder if she had been here would he of recognized her, and bet he would’ve.
‘I’d of arrested him he’s walking in the door,’ Lester said.
Franklin was shaking his head. ‘I’d of seen ’em.’
‘I told him he shouldn’t of left the key in it.’
‘She looked at him again with a faint smile. ‘I would never of suspected.’
‘The first remark out of his mouth, I’d of pulled and killed him where he stood.’
‘She’d of given me the choice of taking a chance with Teddy or being locked up.’
‘She wouldn’t of started breakfast if they weren’t all downstairs near ready to eat.’
‘Jack’s a talker,’ Carl said. ‘He’d of thought of a reason to go alone, pick up a bottle? And Tony’s polite, he would’ve said don’t steal the car, okay?’
‘No, he couldn’t of known that.’
‘Jack Belmont wouldn’t of left with bullets in his gun.’
The minute Jack wasn’t looking, like taking a leak or something, she’d of run out of the house to find a cop.
But Nancy knew who he was, so so the kidnapping wouldn’t of worked.
‘If I hadn’t decided to step back inside to answer the phone, I’d of missed one of the great opportunities of my career as a journalist . . .’
Richard Stark, already quoted above, has half a dozen examples in his first novel, The Hunter:
The spelling occurs often in Kent Haruf’s novel Plainsong:‘If Art wanted to see you, he’d of told you where to find him.’
Stegman blinked. ‘He must of believed me.’
‘His wife must of known it, but she never told me.’
‘Five minutes later,’ the owner told him, ‘you’d of been out of luck.’
‘…it must of meant something, that’s all.’
‘I wouldn’t of believed it.’
He should of taken it last year.
She might of come down and gone back, Ike said. She might not of too.
She must not of stuck.
She must of went home, Mr. Guthrie.
You shouldn’t even of touched that.
Well, he might of went to Denver, Raymond said. Then he might of went back to the Rosebud in South Dakota.
I should of called during these months, I know.
You could of done something yourself too, you know, he said.
Something must of happened to her, Harold said. She must of got taken off or something.
I can’t think of anything we might of did.
You don’t even know where he might of took her for sure.
He might of landed her in Pueblo or Walsenburg.We didn’t know what we might of done to cause you to want to leave here like that.
He better not of hurt her permanent, Raymond said.
And in Pete Dexter’s novel Train:
“They must of left the sprinklers on all night,” the fat man said after he got back in control of his deportment again.
“He must of got home somehow,” Train said.
“She all convulsed the whole time they going through the house; she keeps saying, ‘Oh, no, he couldn’t of did that….'”
Train began thinking more and more that the world might of decided to let him alone.
Now he thought about he, she might not of even noticed the table leg if he hadn’t dropped it and woke up the dog…
Train thought it must of reminded him of that feeling when he was hit by that car and rolled across the road.
Then, if it was the right officer, they might of just carted Mayflower out of there, just because she was pretty, and then took his ass out into the desert and left it.
“One of them must of got up here and took it,” he said.
It seemed like Mr. Cooper must of told him where he come from, or how else would he know?
Must of bought his clothes in the boy’s department.
Melrose might of been trying to say something too, and Train distinctly saw his jaw slide out from under his face.
It came to Train the Plural must of heard her before she even come out of the double-wide, that he must of known from how she was walking that she was mad.
“A blind man,” he said, “We should of sold tickets.”
Walter Tevis’s The Hustler, from multiple characters:
‘You should never of quit going to Sunday school.’
‘I already watched you lose – watched you lose to a man you should of beat.’
‘And if I hadn’t already paid for it I could of with the money I won in side bets.’
‘They couldn’t of helped but hear of me.’
‘I should of let that guy quit, Charlie, like you told me.’
#books #corpusLinguistics #couldOf #dialects #dialogue #etymology #eyeDialect #fiction #grammar #language #linguistics #literacy #modalVerbs #modals #phrases #reading #schwa #speech #speechErrors #spelling #transcription #typos #usage #verbs #writing
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Would of, could of, might of, must of
When we say would have, could have, should have, must have, might have, may have and ought to have, we often put some stress on the modal auxiliary and none on the have. We may show this in writing by abbreviating to could’ve, must’ve, etc. (Would can contract further by merging with the subject: We would have → We’d’ve.)
Unstressed ’ve is phonetically identical (/əv/) to unstressed of: hence the widespread misspellings would of, could of, should of, must of, might of, may of, and ought to of. Negative forms also appear: shouldn’t of, mightn’t of, etc. This explanation – that misanalysis of the notorious schwa lies behind the error – has general support among linguists.
The mistake dates to at least 1837, according to the OED, so it has probably been infuriating pedants for almost 200 years. Common words spelt incorrectly provoke particular ire, sometimes accompanied by aspersions cast on the writer’s intelligence, fitness for society, degree of evolution, and so on. But there’s no need for any of that.
Usage authorities unanimously call it a mistake, though some allow for its deliberate use (more on that below). Many associate it specifically with children and other less educated writers. For example, Garner’s Dictionary of Modern American Usage finds it a practice of ‘semiliterate writers’, and accepts no excuses: ‘the word is have, or a contraction ending in ’ve, and it should be written so.’
Merriam-Webster’s Pocket Guide to English Usage says ‘children and those who have not completed grammar school may have an excuse for making this mistake, but most others do not.’ What’s meant by that most is what we’ll now consider: that the misspellings don’t always indicate carelessness or relative illiteracy.
The Columbia Guide to Standard American English finds room for the anomalous forms as a stylistic device:
substituting of for ’ve in writing can be an example of eye dialect, which deliberately misspells words to suggest Nonstandard or dialectal speech. . . . The important thing is to correct it when it isn’t intentional.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage elaborates on this, saying writers use the spelling ‘to create an unlettered persona’. It cites several examples, including a ‘he’d of got me’ from F. Scott Fitzgerald, who ‘used the spelling to represent the speech of a woman who was not overeducated’, as MWDEU politely puts it.
Here is must of in an intertitle in the Buster Keaton film Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928):
And in Josef von Sternberg’s 1928 The Docks of New York:
Over the last number of years, I’ve seen the non-standard of-form in many books by authors who presumably knew what they were doing:
‘I could of sworn I’d run into you some place before.’ (Carson McCullers, The Member of the Wedding)
‘Oh Miz, oh Miz,’ he moaned, rubbing his leg. ‘You shouldn’t of done that, you shouldn’t, you reely shouldn’t.’ (Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar)
‘All bloody and mucked up, with figuring away aboard the Vénus, when two minutes would of changed it.’ (Patrick O’Brian, The Mauritius Command)
‘I’d of liked to be stabbed – and have lashings of red paint.’ (Agatha Christie, Dead Man’s Folly)
‘Never should of married‘ (Dylan Thomas, Under Milk Wood)
‘See, they must of had them already saddled.’ (Elmore Leonard, The Law at Randado)
‘If I hadn’t of got my tubes tied, it could of been me, say I was ten years younger.’ (Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale)
‘You could of just told him.’ (Raymond Chandler, The Long Good-bye)
‘You could of said no and I could of not believed you.’ (Raymond Chandler, The Long Good-bye)
‘She must of grabbed some pills.’ (Raymond Chandler, The Long Good-bye)
‘You ought to of asked for me in the first place.’ (Raymond Chandler, ‘Trouble Is My Business’, in Trouble Is My Business)
‘Maybe I had ought to of gone to the servant’s entrance.’ (Raymond Chandler, ‘Trouble Is My Business’, in Trouble Is My Business)
‘Youve never seen anything so mad, the lassie couldnt of known what kind of nut house she was in.’ (Alan Warner, Morvern Callar)
‘I don’t suppose he would remember you,’ the woman said thoughtfully. ‘Seems like he would of mentioned you sometimes if he did.’ (Shirley Jackson, ‘The Lie’, in Let Me Tell You)
‘He shouldn’t of done it, that’s all’ (Shirley Jackson, ‘Root of Evil’, in Let Me Tell You)
‘My wife,’ he said, putting his elbows on the counter and still watching Judith, ‘my wife, you ought to of heard her when she thought I was going.’ (Shirley Jackson, ‘Homecoming’, in Let Me Tell You)
‘If he’d of been a friend of mine you would have said plenty, believe me,” Mrs. Royster said darkly. (Shirley Jackson, ‘The Daemon Lover’)
‘She sure must of been glad to see him, the way he looked,’ the old man said. (Shirley Jackson, ‘The Daemon Lover’)
‘I never saw him,’ the clerk in the drugstore said. ‘I know because I would of noticed the flowers.’ (Shirley Jackson, ‘The Daemon Lover’)
‘If you had of been dead, you’d of had a funeral. I only just thought a that now. I’d of went along.’ (Claire Kilroy, The Devil I Know)
Mabey I shoudnt of let them oparate on my branes like she said if its agenst god. (Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon)
Now that makes me feel bad because I would never of hurt the baby. (Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon)
‘I should of had my head examined.’ (Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon)
‘She should of got it lit before we arrived.’ (Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters)
‘Maybe you should of shot us when we was far away.’ (Chris Cleave, The Other Hand)
‘If he’d been an animal, he’d of been the runt of the litter and we’d of put him down.’ (Gillian Flynn, Dark Places)
‘I could of used the money,’ Donna said. ‘That’s what I was thinking.’ […] ‘It’s true,’ she said. ‘I could of used the money.’ (Raymond Carver, ‘Vitamins’, in Cathedral)
‘And here I’d of sworn…’ He took another try at the coffee cup, registered surprise to find it empty. (James Sallis, Drive)
‘Figured they must of took you when they took Ellis.’ (James Sallis, Bluebottle)
Must of been May 14 as May 12 is my birthday and it was by way of a late present. (Minette Walters, The Ice House)
‘You could of got it from the paper.’ (Minette Walters, The Sculptress)
‘You should of shown me this last time.’ (Minette Walters, The Sculptress)
‘She went guilty so she must of done it.’ (Minette Walters, The Sculptress)
Yorkin cringed. ‘Me. Pierce told me to clip him. I shouldn’t of done it by the drop.’ (James Ellroy, L. A. Confidential)
‘That sure could of been true,’ says the clerk at the Salon City store (Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild)
‘I must of fell asleep, eh?’
‘I guess you must have,’ said Isserley. (Michel Faber, Under the Skin)Then one day, it must of rained, and man discovered a new place: indoors. (Philomena Cunk, Cunk on Everything)
And where that monkey might of come from. (Philomena Cunk, Cunk on Everything)
I would of put loads more dinosaurs in. (Philomena Cunk, Cunk on Everything)
‘Donnie, we’d of finished this Betamax deal in ten days. And we’d have had winter money, all three of us.’ (Joseph D. Pistone with Richard Woodley, Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia)
‘And who else could of built it?’ Mr Madden shouted. (Brian Moore, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne)
Sheila, the woodshed, should of paddled you sooner. (Brian Moore, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne)
‘You went had in there. Stark mad. You’d have raped her if . . .’
‘I’d of what?‘ (Brian Moore, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne)‘I never should of come here.’ (Brian Moore, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne)
‘Whether Miriam would of been any different, I don’t know, but I’d say she’d of been worse.’ (Patricia Highsmith, Strangers on a Train)
‘I’d of thought Mrs Herman was the last person in the world to—’ (Dashiell Hammett, The Dain Curse)
…the marshal hadn’t taken any of the Collinsons’ property though of course he might of. (Dashiell Hammett, The Dain Curse)
‘I wouldn’t of flagged that taxi if the For Hire flag hadn’t been up.’ (Dashiell Hammet, ‘Fly Paper’, in The Big Knockover and other stories)
”F he’d of been a man I’d of seen him in hell ‘fore I’d of gave it to him.’ (Dashiell Hammett, ‘Corkscrew’, in The Big Knockover and other stories)
‘They may of gone,’ he said slowly. (Dashiell Hammett, ‘The Golden Horseshoe’, in The Continental Op)
‘But he must of gone through the house and out front . . .’ (Dashiell Hammett, ‘The Girls with the Silver Eyes’, in The ContinentalOp)
‘Anybody could of got in them with a ladder.’ (Dashiell Hammett, ‘The Farewell Murder’, in The Continental Op)
‘Well, we would of if she hadn’t put the two X’s to me the same as she done to you’ . . . ‘but if my rod hadn’t of got snagged in my flogger you wouldn’t have seen nothing else.’ (Dashiell Hammett, ‘The Whosis Kid’, in The Continental Op)
‘If I’d known you five years ago I’d of given it to you.’ (Sara Paretsky, ‘The Maltese Cat’, in Windy City Blues)
‘Mate, I’ve probably said enough already. More than I should of (taps nose) . . . Professional conduct an’ all that.’ (Nicola Barker, Darkmans)
‘Yes, and if the bastard hadn’t of moved I’d have got him, too.’ (Alexander Masters, Stuart: A Life Backwards)
‘I’m Billy Baker. Your Daddy might of talked about me, called me Space?’ (Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, Preacher) (pictured and quoted below: Preacher no. 2: Proud Americans)
”Cause I hope I ain’t outta line here, but I think he’d of been cool about you hearin’ it…’ (Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, Preacher)
‘He was stupid an’ clumsy an’ kind of a weakling, an’ he wouldn’t of lasted a fuckin’ day over there if it hadn’t been for one thing’ (Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, Preacher)
‘See, we’d of done Murphy there an’ then, we’d of had to do Van Patten as well — an’ I knew your Daddy didn’t really wanna do that.’ (Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, Preacher)
The Dunns must of felt this when Tracy vanished. (Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Sower)
‘She must of really gotten knocked out.’ (Jonathan Lethem, Girl in Landscape)
‘He’s not around now, or you’d of met him.’ (Jonathan Lethem, Girl in Landscape)
‘They could of just been losing us,’ said Coney. (Jonathan Lethem, Motherless Brooklyn)
‘Your parents must of been hippies,’ he’d tell me. (Jonathan Lethem, Motherless Brooklyn)
‘He might of been a little impatient for his date with Frank.’ (Jonathan Lethem, Motherless Brooklyn)
‘If it weren’t for Gilbert I would of told him to stick it—’ (Jonathan Lethem, Motherless Brooklyn)
‘Oh, I’d of straightened it out,’ Tony said. (Jonathan Lethem, Motherless Brooklyn)
‘Each one of them, he says it might of been you, it might of been two other guys.’ (Robert Anton Wilson, The Universe Next Door)
‘You must of been back on the reservation eating peyote again.’ (Robert Anton Wilson, The Universe Next Door)
‘And it wouldn’t of mattered to me whether you did or did not like women.’ (George Pelecanos, Drama City)
‘I wouldn’t of thought of such a thing in a million years.’ (George Pelecanos, The Big Blowdown)
‘If you hadn’t of stepped in the middle of everything—’ (George Pelecanos, The Big Blowdown)
It would of done no good gettin’ somebody else te scratch it for me because that was a sin as well. (Frances Molloy, No Mate for the Magpie)
‘Been calling all night. Four, five calls, must of been.’ (Lawrence Block, A Ticket to the Boneyard)
‘Six-thirty or so, you must of just got on your way to Maspeth, guy goes out back with a load of kitchen garbage.’ (Lawrence Block, A Dance at the Slaughterhouse)
‘Another minute and I would of made it, you rats.’ (Lawrence Block, No Score)
‘Now if you would of done this we wouldn’t have any trouble.’ (Lawrence Block, No Score)
‘Need a social security card,’ he said. ‘You must of had one, I guess.’ (Lawrence Block, Chip Harrison Scores Again)
‘Guess they must of been chafing you some on that bus ride.’ (Lawrence Block, Chip Harrison Scores Again)
‘You might not of noticed yesterday but he’s only got one hand.’ (Ron Rash, The Cove)
‘Would he of died?’ (Alison Bechdel, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic)
‘Pete should of told me,’ he said. (Donald Westlake, Good Behavior)
‘Okay,’ Dortmunder said. ‘Could be worse. She could of been wearing her habit, right?’ (Donald Westlake, Good Behavior)
‘Wound up, it took him forty-eight years to serve a ten-year sentence that he should of got out in three.’ (Donald Westlake, Good Behavior)
‘She has on a pair of bikinis I couldn’t of got into when I was ten years old.’ (Elmore Leonard, Mr. Paradise)
‘We could’ve settled, the city pays out a few bucks, it wouldn’t of cost you a dime.’ (Elmore Leonard, Mr. Paradise)
‘You know what I sor?’ said the child patiently. ‘Well, the train must of stopped, see, and some little men with bundles on their backs got on.’ (Mavis Gallant, ‘Up North’, in The Omnibus of 20th Century Ghost Stories, edited by Robert Phillips)
‘You two might of settled down and had a nice baby or something.’ (John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces)
‘Maybe you should of looked around some more.’ (John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces)
‘He must of gone to the show.’ (John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces)
‘I shouldn’t of toog you id,’ Angelo breathed. ‘I got nerbous.’
‘It was all my fault,’ Mrs Reilly said, ‘for trying to protect that Ignatius. I should of let you lock him away, Angelo.’ (John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces)‘I don’t think I’d of wanted to go down there even for the Grape-Nuts. But maybe if we’d’ve gone real fast . . .’ (Harlan Ellison, ‘Sensible City’, in The Dead that Walk, edited by Stephen Jones)
‘You could of killed someone!’ (Neil Gaiman, Death: The High Cost of Living)
‘There’s a lot of places round here you could of bin.’ (Neil Gaiman, Death: The High Cost of Living)
‘If she’d stuck around, I could of asked her advice. I bet she could of come up with somewhere to put you that no one would think of lookin’, not if you paid them ready money.’ (Neil Gaiman, Death: The High Cost of Living)
‘If you’d gotten into a fight with that swordarm of yours, there’d of been bodies all over’ (Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, Lone Wolf and Cub, vol. 2: The Gateless Barrier, translated by Dana Lewis)
‘It ain’t right I wasn’t there because if I had of been there I would of known.’ (Flannery O’Connor, A Good Man is Hard to Find)’The other vics probably would have lived if Lewin hadn’t of made that play.’ (George Pelecanos, Shame the Devil)
‘I should of thought of that my own self.’ (George Pelecanos, Shame the Devil)
‘If you’d gone in right away, you would of got him, none of this would of happened. . . . I’d of got off! You think I’d of stood around that roadblock for seven hours?’ (Richard Stark, Slayground)
‘That guy talks pretty big, Cory. We should of called his bluff right there.’ (Richard Stark, Ask the Parrot)
‘Everything screws up, it just gets worse and worse, we should never of got into this, we’re fuckups, that’s all, we’re just fuckups.’ (Richard Stark, Comeback)
‘Might of slipped in and out, nobody the wiser, except we were already on the scene, account of Parmitt being gone.’ (Richard Stark, Flashfire)
‘Couldn’t you of – oh, he was ignorant in his speech – couldn’t you of prevented it?’ (Hilary Mantel, Beyond Black)
‘I should of thought to bring a sun lounger, from the garden centre,’ Mart said. (Hilary Mantel, Beyond Black)
‘He could of been,’ her mother said vaguely. (Hilary Mantel, Beyond Black)
When she provoked him and he was in a temper with her, he would say, count your blessings, girl, you fink I’m bad but you could of had MacArthur. You could have had Bob Fox, or Aitkenside, or Pikey Pete. You could have had my mate Keef Capstick. You could of had Nick, and then where’d you be? (Hilary Mantel, Beyond Black)
He shouldn’t of been near enough . . . (Donal Ryan, ‘Aisling’, in A Slanting of the Sun)
Stupid idea anyway I dont think he ever wud of really done it. (Paul Murray, The Bee Sting – this example is from a teenager’s text message)
But if she hadn’t of drank she would never have seen him at all and better that she was there she thought where she could at least try to keep some grip on him before he lost the run of himself completely (Paul Murray, The Bee Sting)
Lar thought about it They must of gone out on a job he said (Paul Murray, The Bee Sting)
I wonder what kind of life you might have had, if you hadn’t of been dragged back here. (Paul Murray, The Bee Sting)
I paid a man to write it he says He must of never sent it at all (Paul Murray, The Bee Sting)
I wish someone had of told me you croak into his shoulder (Paul Murray, The Bee Sting)
Lars frowns Choosing his words He didn’t think you should of married Dickie he says (Paul Murray, The Bee Sting)
U SHUD OF TOLD ME I CUD OF SHOWD U AROUD!!!! (Paul Murray, The Bee Sting, text message)
‘Hell, if I knew I was sitting on a gold mine, I’d of sold ’em a long time ago.’ (Jim Dodge, Not Fade Away)
‘And he couldn’t of loved me because he took away my kid, he’s off someplace where I can’t never see him.’ (James Baldwin, Another Country)
‘But I would of died for my kid, I wouldn’t never of let anything happen to him.’ (James Baldwin, Another Country)
‘I couldn’t of done nothing else,’ he cried, ‘what else could I of done? Where could I of gone with Esther, and me a preacher, too? And what could I of done with you?’ (James Baldwin, Go Tell It on the Mountain)
‘Must of had a heart attack or something!?’ (Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin, Tank Girl One):
A curious example in Jim Nesbit’s novel Lethal Injection, where a character says “would’ve of”. My first thought was that it was a copy-editing or proofreading fix that stopped halfway: changing “would of” to “would’ve” and neglecting to delete the “of”. But a search online shows occasional analogous examples in unedited writing, and adjacent discussion on Language Log, so it may well be authentically dialectal:
The example below, from alt-manga historian Ryan Holmberg’s The Translator Without Talent, is from The Marvel Times, a pretend-newspaper about comics that he created on his twelfth birthday. So its must of is probably not deliberate and also completely forgivable:
Such phrases appear often in Cormac McCarthy’s novels. Here are some from Cities of the Plain, all used in dialogue:
You’d never of knowed it though.
I wouldn’t of wrote home for nothin.
Looks like they’d of learned to stay out of it.
Johnny if he hadnt of found that girl would of found somethin else.
And there was nothin any mortal man could of done to of stopped it.
And from Blood Meridian:
No, No, he said. I mean ye was lost to of come here.
It might of been a mule.
Somebody ought to of pickled it a long time ago.
Must of been a thousand indians in there all settin around.
He appears to of spoke for hisself.
I couldnt of learned it off ten dutchmen.
Him and the governor they sat up till breakfast and it was Paris this and London that in five languages, you’d of give something to of heard them.
Don’t you know he’d of took you with him? He’d of took you, boy.
Glanton spat. Ort to of shot that one too, he said.
Well, he said. I’d of thought any damn fool could saw the barrels off a shotgun.
That old boy you bought them off of might of said they was injins but that dont make it so.
The man didnt answer.
Them ears could of come off of cannibals . . .You wouldnt of lived anyway, the man said.
And from All the Pretty Horses:
They might as well of, he said.
Otherwise I’d of been born in Alabama.
…it was a mistake not to of told you.
But if it hadnt of been for her I wouldnt of made it.
He might well could of
Might well could of is also a nice example of a double modal. The [modal]-of construction is used frequently throughout Chris Cleave’s remarkable novel Incendiary:
She was like that was Mena. Philosophical. I’d definitely of killed myself if it hadn’t of been for her.
If you could of looked in my eyes you’d of seen the same thing I shouldn’t wonder.
I wouldn’t of come near you I’d never of let you touch me you should be ashamed.
Most notably in this exchange between two people only one of whom uses it dialectally:
– He would of said something.
– Maybe he wouldn’t have.
– Wouldn’t you of?A remarkable example in A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore uses it without a preceding modal, in the speech of a young child:
‘You got brown eyes,’ she said. ‘I of brown eyes.’
Searching the Corpus of Contemporary American English for the string would of [v*], where [v*] is a verb, produces the graph below. It shows that the of-form’s predominant setting is fiction, usually ‘would of been’, and it also shows up in transcription of actual speech, as in the academic and newspaper instances. You can click through the image to view examples, sources, and further information at COCA.
The magazine data are false positives (‘we’d have a better chance of achieving a breakthrough in quantum gravity than we would of figuring out how to reliably connect with teenagers’), but you get an idea of the construction’s low frequency and particular genre distribution.
Plotting could of [v*] usages over time, using the related Corpus of Historical American English, suggests the construction may have peaked. Or is that just wishful thinking? Again, you can click on this graph for details, or open it in another tab.
Of 1000 occurrences of could/would of in the Oxford English Corpus, about 850 are from ‘representations of direct speech (mostly from the Fiction domain, but also from interviews and courtroom transcripts)’. That leaves 150 genuine written instances of could/would of, compared with 4 million examples of standard could/would have. I can’t help picturing a global battalion of editors keeping it firmly at bay.
The of-form is not frequent in edited prose, but it appears quite often in casual writing and it has been around a while. Does that count for much? MWDEU says its prolonged use has ‘not made it respectable’, and recommends avoiding it – including in transcriptions of real speech, since ’ve serves the purpose equally well. I agree, and I think if someone explicitly says of, and stresses it, that might warrant a ‘[sic]’.
Regular readers know I like to make room for literary effect and poetic licence, but I have never warmed to this mistake. Every time I see it – be its use naive or intentional – I want to fix it. Authenticity of dialect and character are all well and good, but I think the main effect of the deliberate usage in edited prose is further uncertainty and error (not to mention irritation, in some quarters). What do you think?
Updates:
Years after writing this, I’ve softened considerably on the modal-of construction. This is partly because of exposure to its use by so many great writers, and also because it’s a good example of language change – a natural, essential characteristic of a living language. See my post on reconciling descriptivism with editing for more discussion.
I’ve come across many more examples in books, and have added them to the sets above and below. @desktopenglish on Twitter drew my attention to this BBC article that quotes a footballer saying he ‘Shouldn’t of reacted the way I did’.
What sounds to me like a good audio example comes from author Zadie Smith on the Adam Buxton Podcast. This link should cue the player automatically at 15:50, but if it doesn’t, that’s the time stamp. The relevant exchange is as follows, discussing Smith’s father:
Smith: He was very uptight about time, yeah.
Buxton: It rubbed off on you.
Smith: It must of, yeah.
Medievalist Lucy Allen found the line ‘For methowte I wold not for my life a sen it fallen’ in a 14thC religious text, The Shewings of Julian of Norwich. Translating it as ‘I thought I would not for my life of seen it fall’ [underlines mine], she writes: ‘it’s always fun when you notice something in a medieval text that is a dead ringer for one of the “modern” mistakes that horrify the pearl-clutchers’.
David Crystal adds further historical commentary in his book Making Sense: The Glamorous Story of English Grammar:
On 5 September 1819 the poet John Keats sends an apologetic letter to his publisher John Taylor, in which he writes:
Had I known of your illness I should not of written in such fierry phrase in my first Letter.
‘Should not of written’? From such a great poet? It must have been just a slip, because later on in the same letter he writes ‘You should not have delayed.’ What interests me is to find this confusion 200 years ago. It isn’t just a modern thing, as some critics say. That identity in pronunciation between the preposition of and the unstressed form of the auxiliary verb have has been around a long time.
Morph, a linguistics blog by the Surrey Morphology Group at the University of Surrey, has a great post on different aspects of the modal-of usage: ‘What’s the good of “would of”?’
Lots of examples in Anne Tyler’s If Morning Ever Comes, spoken by several different characters (of different ages, backgrounds, and ethnicities):
‘You mustn’t of been but twelve or so but I remembered.’
‘You shouldn’t of mentioned breakfast, boy,’ he said.
‘Course I think he could of made a better choice in wives, but then Sally’s right pretty and I reckon I can see his point in picking her.’
‘You know, when I was a boy we’d of been plumb through town by now.’
‘If we’d of known,’ she said, ‘I’d of cleaned up house a little.’
‘Folks tell me I take too good care of him, so it can’t of been that he got too cold. Though he is right much of a puddle-wader, that could’ve done it.’ [Note nearby use of could’ve.]
‘I don’t guess my letter would of made any change in him one way or the other.’
‘If I’d of married Jamie,” she said, “I would of had a different family.’
‘Well, if it hadn’t of been her, it’d been someone else.’
‘She mustn’t of seen us.’
Ross Macdonald also makes regular use of the construction:
‘If they knew they had a buyer, they might of stayed in business to accommodate you.’ (Ross Macdonald, The Blue Hammer)
‘I wish I could of died instead of him.’ (Ross Macdonald, The Blue Hammer)
‘The other man took them, he must of.’ (Ross Macdonald, The Galton Case)
‘He must of got away.’ (Ross Macdonald, The Galton Case)
‘He must of fell down on the knife and stabbed himself.’ (Ross Macdonald, The Galton Case)
‘He would of killed him too.’ (Ross Macdonald, The Galton Case)
‘When Culligan came marching out, armed up to the teeth, you could of knocked me over with a ‘dozer.’ (Ross Macdonald, The Galton Case)
‘Lucky for him I was out, or I’d of shown him what’s what.’ (Ross Macdonald, The Galton Case)
‘You were just a tiny baby, but that wouldn’t of stopped him.’ (Ross Macdonald, The Galton Case)
As does Elmore Leonard; these are from The Hot Kid:
Emmett Long kept looking at him. ‘You had a gun you’d of shot me, huh?’
‘I’d of shoved the ice cream cone up his goddamn nose.’
What Oris did, he got mad, changed the name of the company from Busy Bee Oil & Gas – a cartoon bumblebee in the trademark they’d of had one day – to NMD Oil & Gas, standing for No More Dusters, and worked a year as a driller to restore his capital.
‘The only one I told was Emmett,’ Carl said. ‘It had to of been Crystal told the papers.’
She had to wonder if she had been here would he of recognized her, and bet he would’ve.
‘I’d of arrested him he’s walking in the door,’ Lester said.
Franklin was shaking his head. ‘I’d of seen ’em.’
‘I told him he shouldn’t of left the key in it.’
‘She looked at him again with a faint smile. ‘I would never of suspected.’
‘The first remark out of his mouth, I’d of pulled and killed him where he stood.’
‘She’d of given me the choice of taking a chance with Teddy or being locked up.’
‘She wouldn’t of started breakfast if they weren’t all downstairs near ready to eat.’
‘Jack’s a talker,’ Carl said. ‘He’d of thought of a reason to go alone, pick up a bottle? And Tony’s polite, he would’ve said don’t steal the car, okay?’
‘No, he couldn’t of known that.’
‘Jack Belmont wouldn’t of left with bullets in his gun.’
The minute Jack wasn’t looking, like taking a leak or something, she’d of run out of the house to find a cop.
But Nancy knew who he was, so so the kidnapping wouldn’t of worked.
‘If I hadn’t decided to step back inside to answer the phone, I’d of missed one of the great opportunities of my career as a journalist . . .’
Richard Stark, already quoted above, has half a dozen examples in his first novel, The Hunter:
The spelling occurs often in Kent Haruf’s novel Plainsong:‘If Art wanted to see you, he’d of told you where to find him.’
Stegman blinked. ‘He must of believed me.’
‘His wife must of known it, but she never told me.’
‘Five minutes later,’ the owner told him, ‘you’d of been out of luck.’
‘…it must of meant something, that’s all.’
‘I wouldn’t of believed it.’
He should of taken it last year.
She might of come down and gone back, Ike said. She might not of too.
She must not of stuck.
She must of went home, Mr. Guthrie.
You shouldn’t even of touched that.
Well, he might of went to Denver, Raymond said. Then he might of went back to the Rosebud in South Dakota.
I should of called during these months, I know.
You could of done something yourself too, you know, he said.
Something must of happened to her, Harold said. She must of got taken off or something.
I can’t think of anything we might of did.
You don’t even know where he might of took her for sure.
He might of landed her in Pueblo or Walsenburg.We didn’t know what we might of done to cause you to want to leave here like that.
He better not of hurt her permanent, Raymond said.
And in Pete Dexter’s novel Train:
“They must of left the sprinklers on all night,” the fat man said after he got back in control of his deportment again.
“He must of got home somehow,” Train said.
“She all convulsed the whole time they going through the house; she keeps saying, ‘Oh, no, he couldn’t of did that….'”
Train began thinking more and more that the world might of decided to let him alone.
Now he thought about he, she might not of even noticed the table leg if he hadn’t dropped it and woke up the dog…
Train thought it must of reminded him of that feeling when he was hit by that car and rolled across the road.
Then, if it was the right officer, they might of just carted Mayflower out of there, just because she was pretty, and then took his ass out into the desert and left it.
“One of them must of got up here and took it,” he said.
It seemed like Mr. Cooper must of told him where he come from, or how else would he know?
Must of bought his clothes in the boy’s department.
Melrose might of been trying to say something too, and Train distinctly saw his jaw slide out from under his face.
It came to Train the Plural must of heard her before she even come out of the double-wide, that he must of known from how she was walking that she was mad.
“A blind man,” he said, “We should of sold tickets.”
Walter Tevis’s The Hustler, from multiple characters:
‘You should never of quit going to Sunday school.’
‘I already watched you lose – watched you lose to a man you should of beat.’
‘And if I hadn’t already paid for it I could of with the money I won in side bets.’
‘They couldn’t of helped but hear of me.’
‘I should of let that guy quit, Charlie, like you told me.’
#books #corpusLinguistics #couldOf #dialects #dialogue #etymology #eyeDialect #fiction #grammar #language #linguistics #literacy #modalVerbs #modals #phrases #reading #schwa #speech #speechErrors #spelling #transcription #typos #usage #verbs #writing
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Greenwashing Tactic 8: Design & Words
Using design principles and greenwashing language in order to trigger emotional and unconscious responses in consumers
Design & Words
Using subliminal design principles and greenwashing language that signals ‘greenness’ to consumers
Share this insight on Twitter…
#Greenwashing Tactic #8: #Design and #Words: Using subliminal #design principles and #greenwashing #language to convey ‘greenness’ to #consumers. We #Boycott4Wildlife #Boycottpalmoil #FightGreenwashing
Jump to section
Greenwashing: Design Principles
Greenwashing Design Example: Palm Done Right
Greenwashing Design Example: WWF Palm Oil Scorecard 2021
Greenwashing with Words: Vegan Versus Plant-Based
Greenwashing with Words: Destructive Global Brands Claiming to be Vegan
What is Veganism?
Greenwashing with Words and Phrases that Signal ‘Greenness’
Explore the Series
Further reading: greenwashing and deceptive marketing
Say thanks for this guide by donating to my Ko-Fi
Greenwashing: Design Principles
Some examples of design principles that signal ‘greenness’ in advertising
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Hand-drawn typography and fonts.
Pastel colours or blue and green hues.
Hand-drawn or vintage and nostalgic animals and children illustrations in packaging and advertising design that bring to mind children’s books.
Happy, uplifting and nostalgic music.
Visual storytelling involving nature.
Green clothing, natural ambient noise and reassuring happy colours set the scene for storytelling by Palm Done Right
Dr Jennifer Lucy’s research, which is funded by the RSPO and industry sets out the minimum amount of rainforest that can be left over for endangered species by the palm oil industry.
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Forest-inspired pie charts and hand-drawn icons tell the story of RSPO members in the 2021 WWF Palm Oil Scorecard
The WWF scorecard ranks RSPO member supermarket brands according to whether or not they have stopped with deforestation or other corrupt practices.
The WWF scorecard uses phrases like:
“9% of respondents have a deforestation and conversion free commitment.”
“88% of respondents have a human rights commitment”
What this means in reality…is absolutely nothing.
The most critical information is not included on the WWF Palm Oil Scorecard
That NONE of these supermarket brands (RSPO members) have ceased deforestation, land-grabbing, human rights abuses for palm oil. Instead, consumers are lulled into reassurances to purchase by the green, forest-inspired pie charts and positive, reassuring phrases.
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Greenwashing with Words
Vegan Versus Plant-Based
Global brands are now claiming ‘eco-friendly’ status by saying that their products are vegan. This is despite these same brands causing global ecocide for palm oil, putting at risk thousands of endangered species
This hijacking of the vegan label is deeply problematic for many vegans. They are all too aware of the devastation of palm oil on rainforest ecosystems and endangered forest species. Most environmentally aware vegans DO NOT agree that palm oil is vegan. The definition of veganism is not only if an ingredient is ‘plant-based.’
Veganism is the strong rejection of all cruelty, death and slavery of animals. Palm oil is a global scourge to all tropical animal species – it is therefore NOT VEGAN.
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Greenwashing with Words
Destructive Global Brands Claiming to be Vegan
The Body Shop: An RSPO member that uses so-called ‘sustainable’ palm oil, the Body Shop is able to persuade consumers of its green eco-friendly nature with the aid of forest-themed hand-drawn illustrations. Via Twitter
Nestle’s Vegan Kitkat: The world’s biggest consumer food brand has not suddenly become ‘green’. They continue with human rights abuses, deforestation, illegal landgrabbing for palm oil. However, claiming ‘Vegan’ status is a way to label themselves as green.
L’Oreal: is another brand cashing in on the vegan trend. By filling their cosmetics, hair care and skincare ranges with palm oil they claim vegan status. Via Twitter
Nestle Wunda drink: Nestle, one of the world’s most notorious brands linked to global ecocide and destruction, can now claim vegan status, despite causing ecocide for palm oil, soy and other ingredients. Via Twitter
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Palm oil is plant-based, so why isn’t it vegan?
Endorsement of palm oil as a vegan ingredient is both lazy and greedy on behalf of vegan organisations like Peta and the Vegan Society. These animal organisations receive sponsorship funding from corporates to endorse products containing palm oil. This ignores the immense global damage of palm oil. For any serious animal activist and vegan – veganism means more than a product being simply plant-based.
Veganism is:
A philosophy and a consumer lifestyle of avoidance of brands and products where these brands or products cause harm to animals. This harm could be:
- Animal murder for human consumption.
- The enslavement of animals for the benefit of humans.
- Cruelty, violence or murder of animals for human entertainment or sport.
- Animal testing or experimentation that benefits humans.
- The destruction of rainforests where the highest concentration of endangered species live, for palm oil, meat, soy or other commodities in order to create consumer products.
True veganism is a philosophy that respects and appreciates all ecosystems and the lives of non-human beings within them. It does not make excuses for ecocide and animal extinction, just for the sake of cheap supermarket goods.
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Greenwashing
Words and Phrases that Signal ‘Greenness
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Vector natural, organic food, bio, eco labels and shapes on white background. Hand drawn stains set.These words trigger automatic, emotional and unconscious responses in consumers. Language works effortlessly in conjunction with greenwashing design to hit the right emotional buttons and to have a positive and rewarding emotional effect on consumers’ minds
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Explore the series
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Join the #Boycott4Wildlife and fight palm oil deforestation and greenwashing by using your wallet as a weapon!
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Further reading on palm oil ecocide, greenwashing and deceptive marketing
- A Brief History of Consumer Culture, Dr. Kerryn Higgs, The MIT Press Reader. https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/a-brief-history-of-consumer-culture/
- A Deluge of Double-Speak (2017), Jason Bagley. Truth in Advertising. https://truthinadvertising.org/blog/a-deluge-of-doublespeak/
- Aggarwal, P. (2011). Greenwashing: The darker side of CSR. Indian Journal of Applied Research, 4(3), 61-66. https://www.worldwidejournals.com/indian-journal-of-applied-research-(IJAR)/article/greenwashing-the-darker-side-of-csr/MzMxMQ==/?is=1
- Anti-Corporate Activism and Collusion: The Contentious Politics of Palm Oil Expansion in Indonesia, (2022). Ward Berenschot, et. al., Geoforum, Volume 131, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2022.03.002
- Armour, C. (2021). Green Clean. Company Director Magazine. https://www.aicd.com.au/regulatory-compliance/regulations/investigation/green-clean.html
- Balanced Growth (2020), In: Leal Filho W., Azul A.M., Brandli L., özuyar P.G., Wall T. (eds) Responsible Consumption and Production. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham
- Berenschot, W., Hospes, O., & Afrizal, A. (2023). Unequal access to justice: An evaluation of RSPO’s capacity to resolve palm oil conflicts in Indonesia. Agriculture and Human Values, 40, 291-304. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-022-10360-z
- Carlson, K. M., Heilmayr, R., Gibbs, H. K., Noojipady, P., et al. (2018). Effect of oil palm sustainability certification on deforestation and fire in Indonesia. PNAS, 115(1), 121-126. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1704728114
- Cazzolla Gatti, R., Liang, J., Velichevskaya, A., & Zhou, M. (2018). Sustainable palm oil may not be so sustainable. Science of The Total Environment, 652, 48-51. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30359800/
- Changing Times Media. (2019). Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil is ‘greenwashing’ labelled products, environmental investigation agency says. Changing Times Media. https://changingtimes.media/2019/11/03/roundtable-on-sustainable-palm-oil-is-greenwashing-labelled-products-environmental-protection-agency-says/
- Client Earth: The Greenwashing Files. https://www.clientearth.org/projects/the-greenwashing-files/
- Commodifying sustainability: Development, nature and politics in the palm oil industry (2019). World Development, Volume 121, September 2019, Pages 218-228. https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v121y2019icp218-228.html
- Contrasting communications of sustainability science in the media coverage of palm oil agriculture on tropical peatlands in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore (2020). Liu, F. H. M., Ganesan, V., Smith, T. E. L. Environmental Science & Policy, 114. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343772443_Contrasting_communications_of_sustainability_science_in_the_media_coverage_of_palm_oil_agriculture_on_tropical_peatlands_in_Indonesia_Malaysia_and_Singapore
- Cosimo, L. H. E., Masiero, M., Mammadova, A., & Pettenella, D. (2024). Voluntary sustainability standards to cope with the new European Union regulation on deforestation-free products: A gap analysis. Forest Policy and Economics, 164, 103235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2024.103235
- Dalton, J. (2018). No such thing as sustainable palm oil – ‘certified’ can destroy even more wildlife, say scientists. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/palm-oil-sustainable-certified-plantations-orangutans-indonesia-southeast-asia-greenwashing-purdue-a8674681.html
- Davis, S. J., Alexander, K., Moreno-Cruz, J., et al. (2023). Food without agriculture. Nature Sustainability. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-023-01241-2
- EIA International. (2022). Will palm oil watchdog rid itself of deforestation or continue to pretend its products are sustainable? EIA International. https://eia-international.org/news/will-palm-oil-watchdog-rid-itself-of-deforestation-or-continue-to-pretend-its-products-are-sustainable/
- Environmental Investigation Agency. (2019). Palm oil watchdog’s sustainability guarantee is still a destructive con. EIA International. https://eia-international.org/news/palm-oil-watchdogs-sustainability-guarantee-is-still-a-destructive-con/
- Federal Trade Commission. (n.d.). Green Guides. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/topics/truth-advertising/green-guides
- Fifteen environmental NGOs demand that sustainable palm oil watchdog does its job (2019). Rainforest Action Network. https://www.ran.org/press-releases/fifteen-environmental-ngos-demand-that-sustainable-palm-oil-watchdog-does-its-job/
- Friends of the Earth International. (2018). RSPO: 14 years of failure to eliminate violence and destruction from the industrial palm oil sector. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/rspo-14-years-of-failure-to-eliminate-violence-and-destruction-from-the-industrial-palm-oil-sector/
- Lang, Chris and REDD Monitor. Sustainable palm oil? RSPO’s greenwashing and fraudulent audits exposed. The Ecologist. https://theecologist.org/2015/nov/19/sustainable-palm-oil-rspos-greenwashing-and-fraudulent-audits-exposed
- Gatti, L., Pizzetti, M., & Seele, P. (2021). Green lies and their effect on intention to invest. Journal of Business Research, 127, 376-387. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.01.028
- Global Witness. (2023). Amazon palm: Ecocide and human rights abuses. Global Witness. https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/environmental-activists/amazon-palm/
- Global Witness. (2021). The True Price of Palm Oil. Global Witness. https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/true-price-palm-oil/
- Grain. (2021). Ten reasons why certification should not be promoted in the EU anti-deforestation regulation. Grain. https://grain.org/en/article/6856-ten-reasons-why-certification-should-not-be-promoted-in-the-eu-anti-deforestation-regulation
- Green Clean (2021). Armour, C. Company Director Magazine.
- Green marketing and the Australian Consumer Law (2011). Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Green%20marketing%20and%20the%20ACL.pdf
- Greenwash and spin: palm oil lobby targets its critics (2011). Helan, A. Ecologist: Informed by Nature. https://theecologist.org/2011/jul/08/greenwash-and-spin-palm-oil-lobby-targets-its-critics
- Greenwashing: definition and examples. Selectra https://climate.selectra.com/en/environment/greenwashing#:~:text=Greenwashing%20is%20the%20practice%20of,its%20activities%20pollute%20the%20environment.
- Greenwashing of the Palm Oil Industry (2007). Mongabay. https://news.mongabay.com/2007/11/greenwashing-the-palm-oil-industry/
- Group Challenges Rainforest Alliance Earth-Friendly Seal of Approval (2015). Truth in Advertising. https://www.truthinadvertising.org/group-challenges-rainforest-alliance-earth-friendly-seal-of-approval
- Helan, A. (2011). Greenwash and spin: palm oil lobby targets its critics. Ecologist: Informed by Nature. https://theecologist.org/2011/feb/15/greenwash-and-spin-palm-oil-lobby-targets-its-critics
- Hewlett Packard. (2021). What is Greenwashing and How to Tell Which Companies are Truly Environmentally Responsible. Hewlett Packard. https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/tech-takes/what-is-greenwashing-environmentally-responsible-companies
- Holzner, A., Rameli, N. I. A. M., Ruppert, N., & Widdig, A. (2024). Agricultural habitat use affects infant survivorship in an endangered macaque species. Current Biology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38194972/
- How Cause-washing Deceives Consumers (2021). Truth in Advertising. https://truthinadvertising.org/resource/how-causewashing-deceives-consumers/
- International Labour Organization. (2020). Forced labor in the palm oil industry. ILO. https://www.ilo.org/topics/forced-labour-modern-slavery-and-human-trafficking
- Jauernig, J., Uhl, M., & Valentinov, V. (2021). The ethics of corporate hypocrisy: An experimental approach. Futures, 129, 102757. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2021.102757
- Kirby, D. (2015). Sustainable Palm Oil? Who Knows, Thanks to Derelict Auditors. Take Part. https://www.yahoo.com/news/sustainable-palm-oil-knows-thanks-derelict-auditors-200643980.html
- Li, T. M., & Semedi, P. (2021). Plantation life: Corporate occupation in Indonesia’s oil palm zone. Duke University Press. https://www.dukeupress.edu/plantation-life
- Liu, F. H. M., Ganesan, V., & Smith, T. E. L. (2020). Contrasting communications of sustainability science in the media coverage of palm oil agriculture on tropical peatlands in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Environmental Science & Policy, 114. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343772443_Contrasting_communications_of_sustainability_science_in_the_media_coverage_of_palm_oil_agriculture_on_tropical_peatlands_in_Indonesia_Malaysia_and_Singapore
- Meemken, E. M., Barrett, C. B., Michelson, H. C., et al. (2021). Sustainability standards in global agrifood supply chains. Nature Food. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00299-2
- Miles, T. (2019). Study in WHO journal likens palm oil lobbying to tobacco and alcohol industries. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN1P21ZR/
- Nygaard, A. (2023). Is sustainable certification’s ability to combat greenwashing trustworthy? Frontiers in Sustainability, 4, Article 1188069. https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2023.1188069
- Oppong-Tawiah D, Webster J. Corporate Sustainability Communication as ‘Fake News’: Firms’ Greenwashing on Twitter. Sustainability. 2023; 15(8):6683. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/8/6683
- Pabon, J. (2024). The great greenwashing: How brands, governments, and influencers are lying to you. Anansi International. https://www.vitalsource.com/products/the-great-greenwashing-john-pabon-v9781487012878
- Podnar, K., & Golob, U. (2024). Brands and activism: Ecosystem and paradoxes. Journal of Brand Management, 31, 95–107. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41262-024-00355-y
- Rainforest Action Network. (2019). Fifteen environmental NGOs demand that sustainable palm oil watchdog does its job. RAN. https://www.ran.org/press-releases/fifteen-environmental-ngos-demand-that-sustainable-palm-oil-watchdog-does-its-job/
- Renner, A., Zellweger, C., & Skinner, B. (2021). ‘Is there such a thing as sustainable palm oil? Satellite images show protected rainforest on fire’. Neue Zürcher Zeitung. https://www.nzz.ch/english/palm-oil-boom-threatens-protected-rainforest-in-indonesia-ld.1625490
- Saager, E. S., Iwamura, T., Jucker, T., & Murray, K. A. (2023). Deforestation for oil palm increases microclimate suitability for the development of the disease vector Aedes albopictus. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 9514. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-35452-6
- Southey, F. (2021). What do Millennials think of palm oil? Nestlé investigates. Food Navigator. https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2021/08/12/What-do-Millennials-think-of-palm-oil-Nestle-investigates
- Transparency International. (2023). Transparency international report: Corruption and corporate capture in Indonesia’s top 50 palm oil companies. Transparency International. https://palmoildetectives.com/2023/05/14/transparency-international-report-corruption-and-corporate-capture-in-indonesias-top-50-palm-oil-companies/
- Truth in Advertising. (2022). Companies accused of greenwashing. https://truthinadvertising.org/articles/companies-accused-greenwashing/
- Truth in Advertising. (n.d.). How causewashing deceives consumers. https://truthinadvertising.org/resource/how-causewashing-deceives-consumers/
- Tybout, A. M., & Calkins, T. (Eds.). (2019). Kellogg on Branding in a Hyper-Connected World. Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. https://www.wiley.com/en-au/Kellogg+on+Branding+in+a+Hyper-Connected+World-p-9781119533184
- Wicke, J. (2019). Sustainable palm oil or certified dispossession? NGOs within scalar struggles over the RSPO private governance standard. Bioeconomy & Inequalities: Working Paper No. 8. https://www.bioinequalities.uni-jena.de/sozbemedia/WorkingPaper8.pdf
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- World Rainforest Movement. (2021, November 22). Why the RSPO facilitates land grabs for palm oil. https://wrm.org.uy/articles-from-the-wrm-bulletin/section1/why-the-rspo-facilitates-land-grabs-for-palm-oil/
- Zuckerman, J. (2021). The Time Has Come to Rein In the Global Scourge of Palm Oil. Yale Environment 360, Yale School of Environment. https://e360.yale.edu/features/the-time-has-come-to-rein-in-the-global-scourge-of-palm-oil
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#PennedPossibilities 1023 — Who would you personally trust the most out of your cast of characters?
Trust to what? Makes me think of, 'You can trust Melanie to *be* Melanie.' Some of the characters in this book are very that. The obvious answer is Grace, but of course, she betrays trust by not being real. Lucy, the mc, is very trustworthy but nobody particularly trusts her except her son Patryk and in the end she lies to him, although it's in a lie-to-protect kind of vein.
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#PennedPossibilities 1023 — Who would you personally trust the most out of your cast of characters?
Trust to what? Makes me think of, 'You can trust Melanie to *be* Melanie.' Some of the characters in this book are very that. The obvious answer is Grace, but of course, she betrays trust by not being real. Lucy, the mc, is very trustworthy but nobody particularly trusts her except her son Patryk and in the end she lies to him, although it's in a lie-to-protect kind of vein.
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#PennedPossibilities 1023 — Who would you personally trust the most out of your cast of characters?
Trust to what? Makes me think of, 'You can trust Melanie to *be* Melanie.' Some of the characters in this book are very that. The obvious answer is Grace, but of course, she betrays trust by not being real. Lucy, the mc, is very trustworthy but nobody particularly trusts her except her son Patryk and in the end she lies to him, although it's in a lie-to-protect kind of vein.
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Issue 15: Poetry
Photo: Weightless Throne by Shinara Weathersby, Issue 15.
Here’s our poetry digest from Issue 15:
I fell down the subway station stairs and shattered
my ankle, and all I could do was say sorry.
My leg swelled green like a new balloon
and the shock set me on fire, vision swimming,
a shrinking vignette, and I kept saying, “I’m sorry,”
“Thank you,” and “What do you need me to do?”
with artificial bright eyes, like tumbling
down concrete wasn’t a thing I did, like I wasn’t expanding
with new bruises, like they needed me.
“What can I do?” … READ MORE >Richard A. Decker
On Becoming a Better ManI tend to write rain checks that bounce but I decide to put myself out there by brushing shoulders and making the best of a get-together.
I bring cheddar sour cream chips and a case of Coke ‘cause I want to somehow break the bad habits from my upbringing and somehow show them that I know how to be polite even though the host said she should be good on snacks.
I want to show them that I can take care of myself — that I’m my own man. … READ MORE >
Regina McMorris
PedestrianTonight the silver moon reveals its lower half
through translucent clouds, the shape
like a watermelon slice. As the clouds shift,
I forget the weight of my dirty laundry as I dragmy suitcase down Colton Avenue, and I don’t
miss having a ride to the coin-op.
The hidden half of the moon, larger
than the half I can see. … READ MORE >Kyler Littlejohn
Hard FaithWe were born to red earth
and hand-me-down prayers,
to mothers who knelt in the fields
and called that kneeling faith.Our fathers were men of silence,
their ghosts planted deep,
roots tangled in grief and duty,
their shadows stretching farther
than the cotton rows. … READ MORE >Elle Rosamilia
Recurring DreamsI.
I hear my father’s footsteps coming closer.
I can’t drive, but I’m still trapped behind the wheel.
The people I love keep disappearing through empty doorways.
There is a face I used to trust and a stranger who plans to do me harm.
II.
The space between bedtime and morning becomes a tunnel
through my brain. As I sleep, I wander corridors in search of symbols that will show
me all the ways I haven’t healed, dig through chests in childhood bedrooms
whose furniture shifts every time I blink my eyes. … READ MORE >Sarah Goldston
Melee DiamondAs small as a poppyseed
Almost an appleseed
These comparisons seem
So unfittingAs if disregarded muffin crumbs
Or apple pits
Could capture the significance
Of a child … READ MORE >Ellen Jane Powers
On being the first woman in this worldThe soles of my feet are dull gray,
years of dirt I couldn’t avoid, and
they no longer come clean. I taught
myself to step aside, to not answer questions
from silver-eyed strangers who test me —
are you lost? No. I turn toward unexpected
paths. I look for a river bed, the one that’s lined
with late spring lilacs, nectar as sweet
as what I tasted long ago. … READ MORE >David Anson Lee
The Weight of GodThe sky does not split.
No curtain lifts.
Afternoon keeps its appointments:
dogs barking,
bread cooling on windowsills,
a child practicing scales
in the next room
while God bleeds outside the city.They finish efficiently.
Iron through flesh,
flesh through bone:
a skill perfected by repetition. … READ MORE >Sarah Tate
Eden Writing Her Own ObituaryTHE GARDEN OF EDEN — brutally murdered by words twisted like smoke and buried to rot under sloughs of snakeskins. Do you smell my cries? I wanted to leave something of account: a bard’s song, maybe, some sad rhymes for the poets, a couple words thrown onto a Wikipedia page. My story like an arc for the unborn, you know. Instead, you consider my paradise lost like you would chew on a vague memory. … READ MORE >
David Athey
Slithering, TwitchingIn the tropical dead of day,
a grey squirrel with twitching tail
makes his rounds with gifts
for the community garden.
The squirrel keeps to the shadow side
and fills the soil with the usual thistle
seeds emptied from a lady’s bird feeder.
It’s rather funny … READ MORE >Kimberly Beck
Pocket PrayerI carry it around with me
in a message on my phone, typed
and re-typed;
on the torn page of a leather journal, folded
in my pocket like a sleeping
crane, or a heron, or
a swan. Now and then it stretches
and lifts its wings, feathers brushing
over the tips of my fingers as I reach
for the ink, for the soft, snow-bright page. … READ MORE >Jonathan Darren Garcia
Amos, when you are in the DesertI have stared into headlights,
And felt the car move through me —
like a phantom
I have fallen on the sharp branches of an oak tree —
swallowed splinters like food
I have felt the night kiss me goodbye —
woke with red eyes,
carrying the sky’s golden, amber flamesPrayers, Prayers, Prayers … READ MORE >
Scott Schuleit
A Precious Soulstanding at a busy corner in neon-glittered night,
red dress exposing skin, perfume wafting pleasure
to passerby. Half-lidded eyes tracing her shape,
some indifferent, a few soft, expressing pity, compassion.
Need some money for drugs and her babies, no other reason.
Dangers, fights for best places to work, violent customers.
No exits out of this room, she figured. Difficult to see
through thickening smoke, rising heat, greed of flame.
She saw no way out of the city. … READ MORE >Patrick T. Reardon
Harsh anglesChill valley. Hallelujah waters.
Hear nobody. Hear nobody.Outshout the light of God.
Outrun the word.
Outdistance.Jordan troubles. Burden dreams.
Cross the kingdom into the Canaanite land.
Take by force.Hear the unsaid. … READ MORE >
Lucy Swan
the -ologies of memoryphilosophers posit that the past only
exists in the mind; settled in the spongy,
gray-matter of your cerebrum, in fluid
through the narrow tubules between synapses,
budding in the engram cells of your neuronal
ensembles. but i see it as an ugly discoloration
clinging to the epidermis, a pink ghost of a
scab, action’s irreversible consequence. … READ MORE >Cody Adams
Thunder Put AsunderWhen my ex-wife refused to halt
the affair
I reminded her of the time our preacher screeched
a sermon about God’s answer to Job,
and how, with climactic timing that felt cinematic,
lightning struck in the city street just outside
the stained glass, animating illustrations of
Judgment Day for one terrifying instant. … READ MORE >Alexandria Marianne Leon
The jar still thereshifting the weight —
forearms tight,handle slick from sun
water pulling low.small fingers tug
at my pant leg.the thought —
drop it. … READ MORE >Alexis Leigh Ragan
HeartpineThere is no handle here,
on the face of a door overgrown
with the after-rot of harvest
loss, where persimmons split
along the worn frame, ombré
abandon embellishing the hingethat was sealed shut with such
severity, one might believe
the owner of the home lives
bent on keeping secrets
silent — in a forest that thinks
it’s forgotten, not knowing
its own carver. … READ MORE >Adam Burrell
Let It Be SoDo you come to me? Do you come to this trash heap playground?
You tread on the mud, kick past the dirty magazines and sit,
silent and unassuming, on that swing. I’m still hiding inside
this rusted, metal climbing dome next to the merry-go-round.
You shouldn’t be here, plain and simple. It’s a place for snotty kids
and maybe drug dealers after dark. It’s a place for teenage makeout sessions,
for raccoons and garbage cans and broken bottles and old shoes — and me. … READ MORE >Margaret Adams Birth
A Rush of Angels’ WingsFlashes from the chrome on cars
passing by on the street outside —easy enough to confuse
with a rush of angels’ wingsreleasing a little shaft of light
from the heavenly realm —remind me that where the wheels
meet the asphalt, there’s wherethe world, and this life, is grounded … READ MORE >
Meg Freer
Still Here, WaitingFifty years ago, she yelled at the old vagrant
in London, Put her down! when he hoisted up
my sister in the Finchley Road pharmacy.
Now she yells at God, Stop picking me up!
after every infection, every hospital stay.
She doesn’t want to remain on this earth.She phones and says, I’m still here.
God doesn’t listen to me.
I have to keep living this awful life. … READ MORE >Jo Taylor
Entrances and ExitsTwo weeks into December we are
all coming and going in my brother’s
house, Hospice nurses attending
to his needs, some family whispering
of days to come, others partaking
of a meal prepared by community and
church friends. Outside, a lone red bird
thuds against the plate-glass window,
and the day wears on like a controlled burn. … READ MORE >READ ISSUE 15:
#christian #digest #God #HolySpirit #issue #jesus #new #poem #poems #poet #poetry #poets #writers #writing
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