New use of "unless"?

[Mike Salovesh]

Arnold Zwicky wrote:
>
> herb stahlke records an occurrence of
>  >"I can't eat it like that unless I have heartburn all night."
>
> i'm fairly sure i've heard "without" used this way in pennsylvania
> dutch country, but i don't think i've heard "unless".
>
> arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)

1)  Could "unless" in this context be a substitute for "lest"?

2)  I've heard "without" used as Arnold reports . . .  I'm fairly sure
that I heard the usage in rural central Missouri, in a corner of Shannon
County where a fair proportion of the population had German ancestors
who arrived well before World War I.  Maybe that's a kind of link to
what might be heard in Pennsylvania Dutch country -- but I'd say it's
tenuous.

-- mike salovesh                    <salovesh at niu.edu>
PEACE !!!