On 10 Jul 2005 03:36:05 -0700, credoquaabsurdum
<credoquaabsurdum@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> 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>.
Who was it who said, when asked whether he spoke English, "I speak
English, I also understand American"?
They aren't the same language any more (not since Queen Elizabeth of
England died and they put that Scotsman on the throne)...
> 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.
An thou sayest it <g>.
> 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.
Is the apostrophe missing in the original?
> 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.
Possibly because it's pronounced without the 'd' whichever spelling is
used.
> Picky, picky, picky...
Thou knowest <g>...
Chris C
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