"creek don't rise"

[Charles Doyle]

Nice "find," Stephen!

That way of writing the contraction, "do n't," was prevalent in 19th-century and early-20th-century journalism, but I don't know the history of contraction-spelling, or whether the "spaced" spelling is supposed to represent a certain pronunciation, like "do" + [@nt].

--Charlie
_______________________________________________

---- Original message ----
>Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2007 08:00:45 -0500
>From: Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
>Subject: Re: "creek don't rise"
>
>
>"'Feller-citizens--I'm not 'customed to public speakin' before such highfalutin' audiences....Yet here I stand before you a speckled hermit, wrapt in the risen-sun counterpane of my popilarity, an' intendin', Providence permittin', and the creek do n't rise, to 'go it blind!'...."
>
>[read do n't or don't, not clear]
>
>p. 447 (?) The Doolittle Delegation, to a "Woman's Rights Convention." by Miss L. Virginia Smith, Graham's American Monthly Magazine of Literature, Art, and Fashion v. 38 June 1851
>
>
>Stephen Goranson
>http://www.duke.edu/~goranson

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