Re: Integrating snippets from other languages into your L1

On Wed, Jul 19, 2006 at 12:38:58PM -0400, Ph.D. wrote:

> Dana Nutter wrote:
>
> > I've lived in Tennessee for over 6 years now and have
> > done pretty well in resisting the local speech habits.  I
> > do tend to say things like "it's not" rather than "it isn't"
> > but have yet to say anything like "knowed", "blowed"
> > or "yunz".
>
> Which brings up a related usage. The negative of "let's"
> is "let's not" in all the dialects of English that I'm familiar
> with. But in _Atlas Shrugged_, the characters always
> use "don't let's," which makes sense, but sounds awkward
> to me.
The Columbia Guide to Standard American English states:

    "There are three negative idioms: _Let's not stay_, _Don't let's
    stay_, and _let's don't stay_, although _let's don't_ is more
    typically American than _don't let's_, which is more typically
    British."

But to be frank, I've only ever heard the ones using _don't_ in song
lyrics, and I've _never_ heard them (at least over here in Rightpondia)
used in speech, on TV or in Real Life.

I agree: they sound utterly awkward.

K.

--
Keith Gaughan - kmgaughan@eircom.net - http://talideon.com/
An idea is not responsible for the people who believe in it.