Bought vs. Brought : They're two separate words!

My fianceé told me that she'd never heard it said, but I seem to hear it all the time. Perhaps it's a northeast thing:

Have you ever heard someone say "bought" when they meant "brought"? As in "I bought this over for you" or "I bought it along just in case"?

Well I have. And I don't like it.

Buy   -> Bought
Bring -> Brought

Practice that twice before you go to bed tonight.

Anonymous 08:48PM ET 2000-Feb-23	Nope, never heard someone misuse it.
Dain Kistner 08:09AM ET 2000-Apr-07	And how about the "their, there" kind of thing? P***es me OFF! (btw - IRP did it in their job openings page...now just everybody line up and we will proceed with the floggings in an orderly fashion...)
Gavin Kistner 11:31AM ET 2000-Apr-19	Oh my, I'm rather embarrassed that my company produced that mistake. At least it was correctly used several times earlier. But, I consider their/there/they're and your/you're to be spelling mistakes--they're homonyms, so at least when speaking people get them right. IMO, bought/brought is one step worse, because they just sound similar, not the same!
Kaye Lermitte 09:08PM ET 2000-May-02	I'm afraid that brought vs. bought might just be bad grammer that the Jim Junge family adopted on their very own. It sounds very familialas well as familiar. But I think that the next time I want to speak of a queasy occurrence in my stomach ,I will just say I think I'm going to barf!
GMF 03:09PM ET 2000-Nov-13	I've never heard bought transposed for brought. I have heard people say "of" when they mean "have" -- moreover I've seen people make that error in writing. E.g., "I would of done it, but somebody else beat me to it." Pleh! I feel like I've heard this more and more as time has gone on, too. Similarly, I remember when "broughah" only needed one "hah". At some point in time, though, the joking form "brew-hah-hah" somehow entered the public consciousness as the standard form of the nice old obscure "broughah" (which I may be mispelling). Like an invading species, this meme has taken over to the point that I've heard theoretically respectable sources use "brew-hah-hah", and I have not heard the mono-hah form used ONCE in at least two years. Wazzupwidat?
Gavin Kistner 03:35PM ET 2000-Nov-13	Much as I love a good "Yeah! Idiots! Grahl!", I'm gonna have to leave you on your own on this one. As far as I can tell, it's spelled with the full measure of double laughter, "brouhaha".
Thayer York 11:46AM ET 2000-Nov-15	Curious on the "would of" vs. "would have". I can imagine someone using the contraction "would've" and it sounding like "would of", but you've seen someone write "would of"? I agree - Pleh!
Gavin Kistner 11:51AM ET 2000-Nov-15	Interesting! I'd assumed that the path was: "would have" -> "would of" directly (through the similar sound), but I bet you're right. Yeah! I now feel certain that it went through the contraction: "would have" -> "would've" -> "would of" Well done!
Anonymous 05:28PM ET 2003-Mar-27	Thanks - I was writing a letter and suddenly had a mental blank about brought/bought. I had a look on the internet to see if anyone could verify and here you are! I was pleased to see that I had chosen correctly.
amliag 04:10PM ET 2004-Feb-04	In the midlands I hear it the other way round all the time. I brought this in Asda. No you didnt - you bought it aarrggghh get it right please
Gavin Sinclair 01:33AM ET 2004-Feb-18	I've heard 'bought' uttered incorrectly more than a thousand times during my life, and it never gets easier to take :) A side comment on 'would', now that previous comments have reminded me. How often do you hear/read this: "If you would've arrived earlier we wouldn't be late." Go back to school, people!
Peter Thompson 04:18AM ET 2004-Feb-26	I estimate that >90% of the UK population say bought when brought would be correct. It may be due to the general weakness of the r in English pronunciation but I hate it with a passion
ted 11:03AM ET 2005-Jun-30	this is one of my pet hates. brought v bought. to make things worse, fatboy slim in his glastonbury set this year has a huge screen with 'bought to you by.." written on it. check out the bbc r1 page for the evidence brought to you by Ted, who bought a new keyboard today. cheers ted
George 04:57PM ET 2005-Jul-27	Ah, I'm always confused on this one. I guess I use them without regard. I tell Shannon she needs to figure out which context I'm using the term in to figure out which is the definition.
Gavin Kistner 06:09PM ET 2005-Jul-30	Interestingly, I was in Europe this past week and heard a reporter for BBC incorrectly use the word "bought" when she meant "brought", as well as an English woman on a television show. Perhaps there's an English influence of which I was not aware.
Brittany Taylor 11:33AM ET 2006-Jan-24	I hate this! My friend, Lynee' has a little problem distinguishing these two words. She definately needs to practice each night before going to bed.
Jared Blitzstein 10:31PM ET 2006-Jan-25	They're not even close in meaning. I don't even see how that could be a dialect thing.
Lbswill 02:28PM ET 2012-Feb-03	Omg! I hate this error!
Downunder 01:28PM ET 2012-Feb-04	Before moving to New Zealand I had not come across the bought/brought misuse. I hear it/see it written all the time, I just want to shake people. :-)

page created 1999-Dec-13

page updated 1999-Dec-13