"might oughta"

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

In a message dated 7/31/05 5:33:47 PM, zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU writes:


> On Jul 31, 2005, at 12:09 PM, Ron Butters wrote:
> 
> > In a message dated 7/31/05 2:47:57 PM, zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU
> > writes:
> >My experience is that non-mutliple modal users who can say
> > "shouldn't oughta"
> > can also say "might oughta"--is this true for you, Arnold? It is
> > true for me.
> 
> not for me.  "might oughta" is so out of my variety i'm not even sure
> what it would mean.
> 
> arnold, who counts as from s.e. pa. (and i don't mean palo alto) for
> these purposes
> 
> 

My father--who lived in eastern Iowa all his life--often said things to me 
such as, "Young man, you might oughta put on a different shirt." He meant 
something like, "It is not merely a suggestion that I say to you 'put on a different 
shirt'."