woulda, coulda, shoulda

woulda, coulda, shoulda

English

Alternative forms

• shoulda, coulda, woulda
• shoulda, woulda, coulda
• woulda, shoulda, coulda
• woulda, coulda, shoulda
• coulda, shoulda, woulda
• coulda, woulda, shoulda

Phrase

woulda, coulda, shoulda

1. An expression of dismissiveness or disappointment concerning a statement, question, explanation, course of action, or occurrence involving hypothetical possibilities, uncertain facts, or missed opportunities.[1] (This stems from expressing that someone could have, would have and/or should have done something)
   • 1995 Nov. 17, A. M. Rosenthal, "The Great Botch-Up," New York Times (retrieved 16 June 2015):

     President Clinton . . . had his clear shot at health-care reform, if we need it, he and his wife, but they blew it. As Mrs. Clinton might say, woulda coulda shoulda.

   • 2006 Feb. 21, Mike Rowbottom, "Retirement talk works wonders for Dorfmeister," Independent (UK) (retrieved 16 June 2015):

     Rahlves described the team's overall skiing performance here as, "woulda, shoulda, coulda—all that stuff. It sucks—we definitely came up very short."

   • 2008 July 7, David Van Biema and Tim McGirk, "Was Jesus' Resurrection a Sequel?," Time (retrieved 16 June 2015):

     [S]uch a contentious reading of the 87-line tablet depends on creative interpretation of a smudged passage, making it the latest entry in the woulda/coulda/shoulda category of possible New Testament artifacts.

   • 2014 Dec. 18, Doug Smith, "Three things to ponder from easy Raptors win," Toronto Star (Canada) (retrieved 18 June 2015):

     [H]e was talking about last night’s game and what it would have meant to have this roster last spring. . . .

     “Shoulda, coulda, woulda” he started. “If ifs and buts were candies and nuts, we’d all have a Merry Christmas, right?”

Related terms

• could have, would have, should have

Translations

expression of dismissiveness

French: yavéka (il n'y avait qu'à), yfalé (il fallait) German: hätte, hätte, Fahrradkette (de) Spanish: otro gallo cantaría

See also

• the road to hell is paved with good intentions
• too little, too late

References

1. Cf. William Safire ("On Language," New York Times, May 15, 1994): "The order of words in this delicious morsel of dialect varies with the user. . . . In this rhyming compound, a triple elision does the hat trick: although each elision expresses something different, when taken together, the trio conveys a unified meaning. Shoulda, short for should have (and not should of, which lexies call a variant but I call a mistake), carries a sense of correctness or obligation; coulda implies a possibility, and woulda denotes conditional certainty, an oxymoron: the stated intent to have taken an action if only something had not intervened. . . . Taken together, the term means 'Spare me the useless excuses.'"

Further reading

• shoulda coulda woulda at Urban Dictionary
• shoulda woulda coulda at Urban Dictionary
• woulda coulda shoulda at Urban Dictionary
• couldawouldashoulda at Urban Dictionary

Anagrams

• coulda, shoulda, woulda, coulda, woulda, shoulda, shoulda, coulda, woulda, shoulda, woulda, coulda, woulda, shoulda, coulda