Double Modals [was fronted /oU/]

[Mark Odegard]

"and she volunteered that she grew up with double modals as well."

Oooooh. Double modals. A frisson goes up my spine, as somewhere, someplace,
in my English, these are *grammatical*.

There are rules: I oughta shoulda, shouldna oughta. I 'fess these are the
only active (but ruthlessly supressed) double modals in my vocabulary.

Positively, the sense is mostly emphatic, but there is a real sense of
obligation, but the thing to be done is something that will most likely not
be done, because you yourself don't want to do it.

Shouldna oughta is self-affirmed sin, a confession, something you admit you
should not have done.

I shouldna oughta posted this to ADS-list, in that everyone who reads it
knows this already.

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