Sure don't

Wed Aug 1 16:20:50 UTC 2007

It's common here in southern Ohio too (South Midland/Appalachian), and with
all the verbs mentioned (including 'won't' and 'can't').  But I wonder if I
haven't heard/said this usage all my life, in Minnesota too?  Or maybe
that's Arnold's misremembering again.

It only follows a negative statement though, as you both have pointed out,
unlike the New England "So don't I" in response to a positive
statement.  Since no one responded to my query about "so don't I" possibly
following a negative statement as well, I assume it wouldn't?  Except in
the form "Neither do I," I assume.

Beverly

At 06:04 PM 7/31/2007, you wrote:
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>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Montgomery Michael <ullans at YAHOO.COM>
>Subject:      Re: Sure don't
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>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
>
>
>--- Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
>
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> > 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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