Don't let's

[Benjamin Barrett]

For the record, I'm not drawing a correlation or stating they are the
same, simply attempting to describe the reaction I have.

Also for the record, here's what I originally wrote:
> I'm American and I consider it ungrammatical. BB
I think most of this thread was caused by my phrasing. I should have
said "...and it's ungrammatical for me" as you suggest. I therefore make
it so! Clearly, the way I wrote it implies a wide-ranging judgment that
I didn't intend.

FWIW, I'd in particular like to hear from people in their twenties or
younger on "don't let's" as age may very well be a factor.

BB

Laurence Horn wrote:
> At 2:33 PM -0800 1/16/08, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>
>> As far as I can tell, it seems to be akin to doubling up modals, similar
>> to saying "I must should". (I know people use that in some dialects, but
>> it is still seems ungrammatical for me.) BB
>>
>
> Well, it might be, but there's no correlation in terms of who finds
> these grammatical.  (I don't speak double-modal natively, but I might
> could learn.)  I'm still not sure (maybe this is what Ron was getting
> at) that it makes sense to describe a construction that's widely
> attested and that many speakers are comfortable with as
> "ungrammatical" tout court, as opposed to "ungrammatical for me".
> Maybe this is a tempest in a teapot, but while I'm already somewhat
> uncomfortable with the use of "ungrammatical" for forms that are
> dialectally restricted, I guess I'm especially sensitive to it when
> it's my own dialect which is so characterized!  Don't let's quarrel
> about terminology...
>
> LH
>
>

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