A lot of "your" instead of "you're" and "there's many" instead of "there're many". I blame 12 years of education by nuns with my grammar obsession.
Oh, I trip up on that one; never thought about it. The first is easier to pronounce too, at least for me.
Ease of articulation does seem to figure into some linguistic developments. At least in my neck of the woods, the contracted form of an "am I not?" question is "aren't I?", and * "amn't I?" would be regarded as odd.
I remember the old Pennsylvania license plates - "You've Got A Friend In Pennsylvania" Also, America OnLine - "You've Got Mail"
This thread is to funny. Lately Ive been reading alot of amazon reveiws the grammer and speling in their is soo bad i some times wander if english is there secund languege. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
I think this is an Americanism. I have never heard it in any other English-speaking country: in Australia, Britain and elsewhere we would always say "I couldn't care less" (except, of course, that we do care deeply). "I could care less" doesn't make grammatical sense (in this context), but it seems to have become common, with readers understanding what it means. I first started seeing it from Americans a good 15 years ago, and I was quite bewildered at first. It angered me when I first saw it, but now I couldn't care less. Or could. I don't know.
"Amn't I?" is common in much of Scotland, although "Am I no'?" ("Am I not?") is more common. But then "No, I am not" in the same places is "Naw, ah'm urnae", a contraction of "No, I am are not." So while "Amn't I?" may be more correct, "Naw, ah'm urnae" really gets confusing.