Date:  Mon, 7 Apr 1997 10:26:38 -0700
<br>From:  Peter McGraw  pmcgraw[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]LINFIELD.EDU 
<br>Subject: Not exactly double modals
<br>
<br>I have no wish to become "Mr. Double Modals," but I kept thinking about
<br>this related usage....
<br>
<br>My great aunt always said "used to could." While this isn't a double
<br>modal, it's really the same phenomenon: use of a finite form of the modal
<br>where an infinitive would be used if one were available.
<br>
<br>I don't think I ever knew anyone besides my great aunt who actually used
<br>this construction, though I've heard OF it elsewhere, probably as an
<br>element of caricatures of country speech. (The only actual example I
<br>remember is an article by James Thurber denouncing the language of
<br>advertising, saying he expected any day now to see a slogan, "We still
<br>brew good like we used to could.")
<br>
<br>My great aunt was not from the South, but her husband was from Tennessee.
<br>He died too long ago for me to remember whether he used the construction
<br>or not.
<br>
<br>So my question to you double-modal using Southerners out there: Do you
<br>also use "used to could"?
<br>
<br>I've just learned that Scots uses modals this way. Viz. the following
<br>message (prompted by my query about a message the writer had sent to
<br>another list):
<br>
<br> Peter -
<br>
<br> "Ye'll can" in Scots = "You will be able to" in English. Ither
<br> constructions the same are "I'll no can", "he widnae cuid hae duin whit
<br> ye say", and sae on.
<br>
<br> Aa the best,
<br>
<br> John Law
<br>
<br>
<br>Peter McGraw
<br>Linfield College
<br>McMinnville, OR
<br>