"should have done"

[David Bowie]

From:    Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>

> I always thought this was a British construction. Do people say this
> in the U.S.?

> Bill : People made assumptions. I didn't correct them. I guess I
> should have done.

> Katherine : I guess you should have done.

> --Movie, _Mona Lisa Smile_ (2003)

> I would never use "done" in this way.  "I guess you should have" is
> my idiom.

> What exactly is this construction called ?  Is it a post-Dickensian
> development ?

It's rare in American Englishes, but it's been documented in
Utah--Marianna Di Paolo has an article on Utahn propredicate do in a
1993 number of _American speech_.

--
David Bowie                                         http://pmpkn.net/lx
     Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
     house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
     chocolate in the house, there is too much; it must be consumed.