I'm reading a Jon Cleary Book, Five Ring Circus. It's set in Sydney, and a lot of the dialogue has hints of the local accent. But one thing keeps leaping of the page: his use of "could of" for "could have" (or "could've", maybe). It's not just one or two less well educated characters that use it; most of them do. I'm pretty confident it's not simply down to ignorance on Cleary's part; somebody would have told him (wouldn't they?) I feel he's overdoing it. Or is it something esentially Australian: an Oz thing tha aPom wouldn't understand?

Do let me know before I finish the book!

Steve