Sure don't

[Bradley A. Esparza]

And, "sure ain't"?

On 7/31/07, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> At 3:04 PM -0700 7/31/07, Montgomery Michael wrote:
> >Dear Larry
> >
> >Belated thanks for the link to the Atlantic story.
> >The usage sure isn't restricted to either Texas or to
> >"don't."  I've heard "sure don't," "sure isn't," and
> >"sure hasn't" all my life, in various parts of the
> >South (mainly the Kurathian South Midland).  I'm not
> >so sure about "sure won't or "sure can't."  I can
> >think of contexts for them, but right off only in
> >response to negative statements.  Let me think about
> >this.
> >
> >The fact that Lise found it prevalent among locals in
> >southern Illinois suggests South Midland to me.
> >
> >Michael
>
> I'd be surprised if it didn't (those are two real negatives!) happen
> with "sure can't".  Joan, is there data on this assembled for the
> eventual "sure" entry?
>
> LH
>
> >
> >
> >--- Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
> >
> >>  ---------------------- Information from the mail
> >>  header -----------------------
> >>  Sender:       American Dialect Society
> >>  <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>  Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> >>  Subject:      Re: Sure don't
> >>
>
> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >>  At 2:20 PM -0500 7/31/07, Scot LaFaive wrote:
> >>  >I asked, "Do you have any maps?"  She said, "We
> >>  sure don't."
> >>  >
> >>  >While reading some reports at work I came across
> >>  this construction a few
> >>  >times. I'm familiar with using "sure" as an adverb
> >>  when the answer is in the
> >>  >affirmative ("Yes, we sure do."), but not
> >>  otherwise. The writer is probably
> >>  >an L2 speaker (her L1, if not English, would
> >>  probably be Spanish). The
> >>  >supposed speaker of "We sure don't" is in Texas.
> >>  Anyone know if this is a
> >>  >regional construction in Texas?
> >>  >
> >>  >Scot
> >>  >
> >>
> >>  Not just Texas, I'd guess, but general Southern and
> >>  [South?] Midland,
> >>  unless I miss my guess.
> >>
> >>  Michael Montgomery and I just happen to have had an
> >>  exchange on this
> >>  topic last week.  With what I hope is his
> >>  non-objection, I'll
> >>  reproduce Michael's question here and my response,
> >>  of possible
> >>  interest for the reference to the cute (if somewhat
> >>  ill-informed)
> >>  piece in the Atlantic I cite below by the humorist
> >>  Ian Frazier.  The
> >>  cartoon in the piece is especially nice.
> >>
> >>  LH
> >>
> >>  [MM:]
> >>  >With regard to regional negatives that sometimes
> >>  >perplex, I have long wondered how much of a role
> >>  >intonation might play.  Twenty years ago Lise Winer
> >>  (a
> >>  >Canadian) told me that when she went to
> >>  SIU-Carbondale
> >>  >to teach, she was confused by "I sure don't" being
> >>  >expressed with the same intonation as "I sure do."
> >>  >She had been used to the two having very different
> >>  >patterns, but when she would ask a salespeople if
> >>  >their shop had a certain product and got the
> >>  response
> >>  >"we sure don't" with a high falling contour on
> >>  >"don't," she was mystified.  Do you think this
> >>  might
> >>  >be a Midlandism?
> >>
> >>  [LH:]
> >>  I think so; I've come across it both in person and
> >>  on screen (big and
> >>  small) representations and at first was very
> >>  confused, until I
> >>  recognized what it was doing.  What I couldn't
> >>  figure out is if it
> >>  was intended as a garden path (helped along by the
> >>  parallel
> >>  intonation you mention), an attempt to be cheerfully
> >>  polite, or
> >>  something else.
> >>
> >>  Googling it, I find a reference to "The Positive
> >>  Negative" in an
> >>  Atlantic Monthly piece by Ian Frazier from June
> >>  1997:
> >>
> >>  We sure don't!" The last word is spoken with a
> >>  rising inflection, as
> >>  if the expression were a positive one ending with
> >>  the word "do".
> >>  http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/97jun/frazier.htm
> >>
> >>  (Despite the reference to "a rising inflection", I
> >>  suspect this is
> >>  the very same intonation you refer to as a "high
> >>  falling contour".)
> >>  Frazier refers to the "Sure Don't Bakery" and more
> >>  generally to the
> >>  'border into "sure don't" America'.
> >>
> >>
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> >
> >
> >
>
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--
Bradley A. Esparza

"You can lead a whore to culture, but you can't make her think." Dorothy
Parker, when asked to use the word 'horticulture' in a sentence.

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