Don't let's

[Tom Zurinskas]

She said, "I'm going to go."
He said, "Don't let's go.
 
Does that make sense?  Too unclear I think to be acceptable form.Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+ See truespel.com - and the 4  truespel books plus "Occasional Poems" at authorhouse.com. 



> Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 11:12:23 -0500> From: thnidu at GMAIL.COM> Subject: Re: Don't let's> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>> Poster: Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>> Subject: Re: Don't let's> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------> > Will Salmon asked about "don't let's" and added:> >Here's my favorite web example, apparently from an 1894 publication of> >the English Dialect Society.> >> >Don't let's go trolly-mogging about any longer.> > Grant Barrett wrote:> > > Sure, it's grammatical, but just old-fashioned.> >> > Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:> > > This is weird. It seems quite natural for me (NYC/Long Island, b.> > 1945), although definitely colloquial. "Don't let's argue about it"> > for example is an informal variant of "Let's not argue about it".> > Trolly-mogging, on the other hand,...> >> > LH> >> > P.S. On the other hand, in the context of "Let's not and say we did"> > I can't imagine getting "Don't let's and say we did".> >> >> I read Grant's comment first and agreed. Then I read Larry's and recognized> more about my own background for the usage. I associate it with my> grandmother, born 1890 NYC. I don't use it myself AFAIK. I think I would> notice it if I heard it, but not star it. I guess my judgement is> "grammatical, but old-fashioned colloquial".> > "Trolly-mogging" sounds like "lollygagging", here in the sense "dawdle,> dally", but OED has only "trolly-mog" as a noun, under trolly, n.2, with> only UK cites:> > > dial. = TROLLOP n. 1. Also comb. in trolly-mog, trollimog [cf. MOGGY 2]> > in the same sense.> > Will, you may have uncovered a new sense for the OED. Are you listening,> Jesse?> > m a m> > ------------------------------------------------------------> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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