Re: USAGE: double modals (was Re: negativity)

On Wed, 9 Feb 2005 15:43:13 -0000, caeruleancentaur
<caeruleancentaur@...> wrote:

>From:    Geoff Horswood <geoffhorswood@H...>
>
>>Where's your wife from? Double modals such as this are actually
>>pretty rare in Texas, compared to the rest of the South, since much
>>of Texas was settled by people from the lower Midwest.  I myself
>>don't use it, and don't recall ever hearing another Texan use it,
>>but the more I think about it, the more it makes practical sense to
>>me:  three syllables less than "I might be able to have".
>
>I live in the Blue Ridge Mtns. of western VA.  "Might could" is very
>common in this area.  I've been here 14 years.  It's beginning to
>sound "correct"!
>
>Charlie
>http://wiki.frath.net/User:Caeruleancentaur
That's where her mom grew up, (in & around Bassett) and most of that part
of the family are still scattered through that area and NC.

The really bizarre thing is that we're living in England at the moment, but
I still sometimes produce it myself.  And then cringe inwardly, because it
sounds "wrong".

Oh well...

G