[Ads-l] "done VERB-ed" < "_have_ done VERB-ed"

Clai Rice cxr1086 at LOUISIANA.EDU
Sat Apr 30 18:25:14 UTC 2016


I wonder if "throughout the South" from,  "Bartlett['s "Dictionary of Americanisms"] says that this use of _done_ is a very common vulgarism throughout the South." is intended to be a racial euphemism? Or was he intending to mark it as usual in both black and white speech?

----- Original Message -----
> From: "Randy Alexander" <strangeguitars at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Friday, April 29, 2016 9:56:16 PM
> Subject: Re: "done VERB-ed" < "_have_ done VERB-ed"
> 
> Ha! He can say "I have done done" is redundant, but then goes on to say
> "common vulgarism".
> 
> Kids those days....
> 
> On Sat, Apr 30, 2016, 10:45 Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      "done VERB-ed" < "_have_ done VERB-ed"
> >
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > For some time. I've been intending to comment on my memory - or, perhaps,
> > merely my tuition - that strings like, e.g.:
> >
> > "I done told you"
> >
> > are derived from strings like
> >
> > "_I've_ done told you" < "I _have_ done told you"
> >
> > Unfortunately, there's no need to argue this point, for GoogleB is
> > asshole-deep in evidence that such is the case, rendering such an
> > exposition otiose.
> >
> > My Torn Heart
> > https://books.google.com/books?isbn=3D1426976690
> > Carla Lamb Marshall - 2011 - =E2=80=8EPreview
> > =E2=80=9CBook, I _have done told_ you that you lost the privilege to call
> > m=
> > e Brit
> > when you tried to hurt my family. You are not allowed to call me that ever
> > again. You will either call me Mrs. Water or Mrs. Niklas Water.=E2=80=9D
> >
> > A Grammar of the English Language: With Exercises in ... - Page 235
> > https://books.google.com/books?id=3Db64AAAAAYAAJ
> > Edward Archibald Allen, =E2=80=8EWilliam John Hawkins - 1905 -
> > =E2=80=8ERea=
> > d
> > "The past participle of tell is not done told, as ' I _have done told_
> > him,' and one done is enough in ' I have done it.' "
> >
> > Perhaps of interest is only this.
> >
> > Some Peculiarities of Speech in Mississippi - Page 27
> > https://books.google.com/books?id=3DwKAVAAAAYAAJ
> > Hubert Anthony Shands [Georgetown, Texas] - 1893 - =E2=80=8ERead
> > *Done *... This word is very often interposed between the auxiliary _have_
> > and the past participle, to give additional completeness to the sense; as,
> > "I have done lost," which seems to mean more than "I have lost." This
> > distinction is not always observed; _done lost_ is very frequently used
> > when we should expect simple _lost_, and _vice versa_. Bartlett['s
> > "Dictionary of Americanisms"] says that this use of _done_ is a very common
> > vulgarism throughout the South.
> > --=20
> > -Wilson
> > -----
> > 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.
> > -Mark Twain
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> 

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list