Don't let's

Joseph Salmons jsalmons at WISC.EDU
Tue Jan 15 14:36:05 UTC 2008


This is also the title of a song by the band They Might Be Giants:
"Don't let's start" ... Full lyrics here: http://tmbw.net/wiki/Lyrics:Don't_Let's_Start
  . They are American, but they also play with language in pretty rich
ways, so it might suggest that this construction is good for them, but
I wouldn't take it to the bank.


>> LanDi Liu wrote:
>>> Are there Americans who consider this construction to be
>>> grammatical in
>>> their dialect?  British/Australians who don't?
>>>
>>> I'm trying to verify whether "don't let's..." is more or less
>>> exclusively
>>> British.
>>>
>>> Randy Alexander
>>> Jilin City, China
>>>
>>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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