Meaning of "used to would" double modal?

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

I sense a difference between 

I used to think that the moon was made of green cheese. (= It was formerly 
my belief that ...)
AND
I used to would think that the moon was made of green cheese. (= From time 
to time the thought crossed my mind that ...)

The unmarked interpretation of the former is continuous.
The unmarked interpretation of the latter is iterative. 

I used to would = It used to be (the case) that I would 
I used to = It used to be (the case) that I

cf.

I used to could = It used to be (the case) that I could

In a message dated 11/12/09 3:35:48 PM, thnidu at GMAIL.COM writes:


> But "used to" already expresses not just past tense, but habitual past. 
> What
> does "would" add to that? Does it emphasizes the habituality, as Charles
> suggests, or is it semantically redundant?
> 
> Compare
> 1. lies I used to would tell
> 2. lies I used to tell
> 3. lies I would tell
> 4. lies I told
> 
> 2, 3, and 4 are all in my dialect and pretty broadly in US usage. For me, 
> 2
> and 3 are synonymous or pret'near so,* referring to habitual lying in the
> past. In contrast, 4 can refer to any past lying, habitual or not, 
> including
> a single occasion ("lies I told last night").
> 
> * leaving aside the conditional use of 3
> 
> m a m
> 
> On Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 3:13 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> 
> > At 11/12/2009 02:30 PM, Charles Doyle wrote:
> > >Speaking from my own "Southern" intuitions:
> > >
> > >The modal "would" here simply adds--or emphasizes--a sense of 
> habituality.
> >
> > Speaking from my own "Northern" attempts to understand English spoken
> > by others, I have the same sense.  The "would" tells me that the
> > speaker, talking about the past ("used to"), in that past more than
> > once did the thing in question ("would" lie, hate).
> >
> > Joel
> >
> >
> > >--Charlie
> > >_____________________________
> > >
> > >---- Original message ----
> > > >Date: Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:24:21 -0500
> > > >From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> (on behalf
> > > of Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM>)
> > > >
> > > >A friend encountered some examples of the "used to would" double
> > > modal in a song by a southern performer. I explained the general
> > > idea, but he pointed out that in the examples in the song--things
> > > like "lies I used to would tell" or "people I used to would
> > > hate"--the "would" seemed redundant, and he asked if the double
> > > modal was emphatic, or random, or what.
> > > >
> > > >I don't actually know, and figured I'd ask here rather than trying
> > > to make something up based on the few resources for this that I have
> > handy.
> > > >
> > > >Thanks for any input.
> > > >
> > > >Jesse Sheidlower
> > > >OED
> >
> >
> 
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> 
> 

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