"might have done"

[Mai Kuha]

> In a message dated 11/21/2000 12:10:11 PM, mkuha at BSUVC.BSU.EDU writes:
>
> << Interesting. This really adds to my appreciation of the episode of the
> britcom "Are You Being Served" ...
> ..."I might have done, if I'd had me pants on," Lucas
> explains. Maybe "might have done" here is intended as humorous
> hypercorrection. >>

On Tue, 21 Nov 2000 RonButters at AOL.COM wrote:
> I wouldn't see it as hypercorrection at all--I doubt that the script writers
> even knew that "might have done" was anything but the normal way of saying
> it. Which it is for Brits under the age of 120.

Oh, OK. I thought in your earlier message you meant that it still was a
sign of "cultivated" speech.
mk
_____________________________________________
Mai Kuha                  mkuha at bsuvc.bsu.edu
Department of English     (765) 285-8410
Ball State University