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From: "credoquaabsurdum" <credoquaabsurdum@yahoo.com>
Newsgroups: alt.languages.english
Subject: Re: used to
Date: 10 Jul 2005 03:36:05 -0700
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Chris Croughton wrote:
> >> I don't believe "usedn't" is a word in English at all <g>.
Bob Cunningham wrote:
> > But it is.
> > It's in _Merriam-Webster's Unabridged Dictionary_:
> > Main Entry: usedn't
> > Variant:or usen't [...]
> > chiefly Britain : used not
> > Not that I, for one, would ever say it.
Chris replied snidely:
> It may be in American, I said that I don't believe it's English <g>.
Welcome to alt.languages.english, Bob. As you can see, we barbarous,
wretchedly ignorant Americans around here have to take it to the next
level.
usen't (colloquial shortening of use not)
c1863 T. TAYLOR in M. R. Booth Eng. Plays of 19th Cent. (1969) II. 96,
I usen't to mind unkind looks and words much once. 1907 G. B. SHAW
Major Barbara III. 255 That is a new accomplishment of Andrew's, by the
way. He usent to drink. 1929 'H. H. RICHARDSON' Ultima Thule III.
v. 279 Usen't Richard to say that it was etiquette in the profession to
treat a patient's relatives..as so many cretins?
Oxford English Dictionary Online
It seems that the Brits don't like "usedn't" and prefer "usen't," those
of them who use it at all.
Picky, picky, picky...
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