Shoulda-woulda-coulda
Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 10:59 pm
• shoulda-woulda-coulda •
Pronunciation: shU-dê-wU-dê-kU-dê • Hear it!Part of Speech: Interjection
Meaning: A sympathetic interjection used when a person tells you how things might have been better had someone acted differently.
Notes: I don't usually publish words that violate grammatical rules. This is a word, however, I've heard so often I think it may have made its way into the English lexicon the same way that stick-to-itiveness, gobbledygook, and discombobulate made it. It has been the title of at least two songs, the new Patty LuPone TV show, a 2014 movie, and at least two books. We haven't decided on the order of the three components of this 'word'; I have arbitrarily put them in the order in which I hear them. It is used following sentences containing should, would, or could, as the examples below demonstrate.
In Play: Here are two contexts in which today's Good Word might be used.
"If only I'd been more careful, I wouldn't have dropped your vase."
"Shoulda-woulda-coulda!"
"I could have been a contender if only I had worked out more."
"Shoulda-woulda-coulda!
Word History: This word is based on colloquial pronunciations of the phrases should have, would have, and could have in northern US dialects. In the southern dialects these phrases are pronounced should of, would of, and could of, so Southerners won't immediately recognize the components of this word. Could originated as the past tense of Old English cuðe "be able", in other words, cuthe-d. The L was added later under the influence of would (past tense of will) and should (past tense of shall). The original OE word survived in couth "knowledgeable, refined", which survives today only in uncouth. (Let me take this opportunity to thank Lucinda Head of New Monia, Pennsylvania, for recommending today's Good word, lest someone say, "Should-coulda-woulda," someday to me.")