Woulda, shoulda, coulda
I think should, would, and could are problem words. Allow me to explain. (First post!)
"Should" came up when I read this quote "I don't think we need to crave difference or be horrified by similarity." from this weblog entry which cited the original entry. What I hear from this comment is people saying "you should do this" or "you should feel this way." Wrong, wrong, wrong. I can jump into an excited dicussion of left-wing politics versus moral consensus and - well, no, I can't. And won't. Thank me later. What I can comment on is the stupidity of telling someone how they should feel ("Oh, you have a computer and make more than the average wage? You should feel bad about the digital divide and exploiting (insert popular cheap-labor company here)'s workers with your rampant consumerism!"). Where is the request that I look at someone's data and opinion, instead of being told to feel a certain way.
Like I said, first post. I'll get better. And I didn't read the actual source, just the excerpts and comments. The Basque scare me.
"Would" is overused and under-understood. "I would like to thank you" is a cop-out. "I thank you" is what you wanted to say, meant to say, but have the verba-dental issue of mealy-mouth. "I would like to thank you for your hospitality but your accomodations were disgustingly pitiful" is when you should use "would."