Don't let's

[Wilson Gray]

I have an inkling in the back of my thinking cap that I've read "don't
let's" here and there and, perhaps, even heard it in the movies or
something. So, I can't agree with the Tusconite. But, as quiet as it's
kept, I wish that I could.

-Wilson


On Jan 16, 2008 7:51 PM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Don't let's
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I just ran into a male Tucsonite, 43, who's also an "ain't no don't
> let's" dialect speaker. BB
>
>
> Laurence Horn wrote:
> >
> > At 4:12 PM -0800 1/16/08, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
> >
> >> 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
> >>
> >
> > It's not only age, or geography.  My wife, who's 1.5 years older than
> > I am and also from N.Y. and Connecticut, is not a "don't let's"
> > speaker.  I'd ask my kids but they're not around at the moment, and
> > the cats are mum.
> >
> > LH
> >
> >
> >> 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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--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens

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