prescriptivism, conventions, irony, and could(n't) care less

[Mark A. Mandel]

Tony Glaser <tonyglaser at MINDSPRING.COM> writes about "you done good":

>>>>>
As an Englishperson living in USland, for the me difference is not
the humor or otherwise, it is the loss of the difference between
"doing well" and "doing good". "Doing good" has a meaning beyond a
light-hearted way of telling someone they did well - if I go out and
save a person from starving/dying/being wrongfully convicted  or
whatever, _then_ I have "done good" (even though perhaps I may not
have done well!). In US English it seems that this use of "doing
good" as in "doing good works" has been lost.
<<<<<

Then you're not listening carefully enough. For me at least, "you done
good" means 'you have done well', with the jocular social downleveling
mentioned in this thread by several people. "You<'ve> done good", if ever
said, would mean 'you have done a good work'; I might even expect to hear
and say it without the contraction.

-- Mark