Date:  Tue, 17 Oct 1995 01:28:33 -0400

From:  Aaron Drews <drewsa[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]GUSUN.ACC.GEORGETOWN.EDU>

Subject: Re: might could



On Mon, 16 Oct 1995 mlbroom[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]SAUMAG.EDU wrote:



> I have heard the two words  might could  used in a sentence instead

> of something like:  might be able to.  Example: You might could call

> her on the phone.  Instead of: You might be able to call her on the

> phone.  Wonder where this got started?

>

    Well, I know Scots and non-standard Scottish dialects of English

use double modals. And there were one or two Lowlanders that settled in

the southern States. My guess is that it got started back when could was

a full lexical verb.... 17th century, maybe, I don't know. My HEL is a

wee bit rusty.