Is the use of "do do" a no no in an American English sentence?
Susan Grossman
USENET newsgroup using "do do" in one of my sentences.
Here is the quote:
"talk is what politicians do when they don't want to do anything.
Sometimes, politicians do do something (not much, but something)"
(REFERENCE: misc.invest.stocks article titled "Can I ever get out of AMT
hell (after a tax-naive ISO exercise)" dated Wed, 14 Feb 2007 11:19:21 EST)
I ask you American english experts:
Is the use of "do do" a no no in an American English sentence?
Sue
tinwhistler
[snip]
> I ask you American english experts:
> Is the use of "do do" a no no in an American English sentence?
Although my expertise in AmE is contestable, I would say the venerable
Pepys provides a precedent showing that in certain contexts - I would
include the one you describe - a "do do" is OK.
1667 Pepys Diary 29 July, He and the Duke of York do do what they can
to get up an army.
Aloha ~~~ Ozzie Maland ~~~ San Diego
rzed
news:1vo5hifo350cd$.fo3oenw3...@40tude.net:
As in "Do do that voodoo that you do to me"? It may look funny, but
sentences can certainly be constructed that call for it. Would your
critic object to "did do" (as in, "Don't tell me what he didn't do.
Tell me what he did do.")? That's just a change of tense, but either
seems unremarkable to me.
--
rzed
Purl Gurl
> (REFERENCE: misc.invest.stocks article titled "Can I ever get out of AMT
> hell (after a tax-naive ISO exercise)" dated Wed, 14 Feb 2007 11:19:21 EST)
> I ask you American english experts:
> Is the use of "do do" a no no in an American English sentence?
no, no, pooh-pooh do do.
No true grammar rule about this, quite acceptable grammar
but clearly not acceptable in usage. Use other words.
This "do do" is much like "had I had" and "have you had"
and "to do to" usage. Ok grammar but sounds silly.
Why are you participating in a pump and dump stock newsgroup?
Those usenet stock groups are not good for your financial health.
Have you noticed those groups are a favorite of Cananda's infamous
"Howe Street" pump and dump gang? Canada robs a lot of money from
American stock players through those criminal newsgroups.
On the AMT, eventually congress will have to act on this. Really
no choice because this idiotic tax rule is devasating the
American middle class. Nonetheless, we know congress will not
act on this until our middle class exhibits retained earnings
bordering on the poverty level tax bracket.
Your only escape from AMT is to lower your tax bracket which
can be done, but almost always done so, unlawfully. Whatever,
NEVER mess with the IRS, never, never.
This reduced fifteen percent tax on capital gains will expire
end of this year. Will this be extended another year? I tend
to doubt this. I lean towards capital gains tax returning to
a minimum twenty-eight percent and up, next year.
Both the AMT retention and ending of lowered capital gains
tax, I believe will happen to finance our idiot illiterate
president's wars of lies, partnered by England's lying Blair.
You watch your back around those pump and dump groups; you
will be suckered, sooner or later, if not already.
http://www.purlgurl.net/~stocks/index.cgi
Purl Gurl
Adrian Bailey
news:1vo5hifo350cd$.fo3oenw3esxw.dlg@40tude.net...
Ignore the grammar snobs. There are quite a few words this happens with in
English, e.g. do, that, in. It's normal and shouldn't be avoided unless
there is a risk of misunderstanding.
Adrian
HVS
> I was recently chastised for composing a post to an American
> tax-related USENET newsgroup using "do do" in one of my
> sentences.
What were you chastised for? Grammar, or unacceptable language?
As others have confirmed, what you wrote was grammatical; but "do
do" is a euphemism for "shit".
Were you perhaps the victim of an over-zealous Usenet filtering
program?
--
Cheers, Harvey
Canadian and British English, indiscriminately mixed
For e-mail, change harvey.news to harvey.van
Einde O'Callaghan
first "do" is simply an emphatic as is the "do" in, for example, "I
don't eat out often, but when I do eat out, I prefer Chinese cuisine."
However, as somebody else has already pointed out "do do" is a childish
euphemism for "shit", so perhaps somebody homed in on this word
combination without reading the context.
I wouldn't worry about it.
Dooby dooby dooby do do do, as Frank Sinatra might say. ;-)
Regards, Einde O'Callaghan
Peter Moylan
> As others have confirmed, what you wrote was grammatical; but "do
> do" is a euphemism for "shit".
Only, I would have thought, when it's a misspelling of "doo-doo".
--
Peter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org
Please note the changed e-mail and web addresses. The domain
eepjm.newcastle.edu.au no longer exists, and I can no longer
receive mail at my newcastle.edu.au addresses. The optusnet
address could disappear at any time.
cybercypher
It's perfectly normal American English, just as "Don't do that!" is.
I would drop the comma after "sometimes", though.
--
Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor
Native speaker of American English; posting from Taiwan.
"It has come to my attention that my opinions are not universally
shared." Scott Adams, The Dilbert Blog, 23 Jan 2007;
http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/
teranews charges a one-time US$3.95 setup fee
--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
Barbara Bailey
I tend to agree with the other responses that say it's acceptable, but
should be used sparingly. Other perfectly acceptable doubled words are
"that that" (Why did you write that that way?) and "had had" (He had
had a minor seizure.)
R H Draney
>
>I tend to agree with the other responses that say it's acceptable, but
>should be used sparingly. Other perfectly acceptable doubled words are
>"that that" (Why did you write that that way?) and "had had" (He had
>had a minor seizure.)
What the problem is is something else, not word-doubling....r
--
"You got Schadenfreude on my Weltanschauung!"
"You got Weltanschauung in my Schadenfreude!"
contrex
> What the problem is is something else, not word-doubling....r
Yes, that's what I feel too. I see plenty of queries here where the
question is posed as "Is this correct?" but one feels the questioner
is really thinking, "I am fairly sure this is grammatical, but it
looks clumsy".
Jeffrey Turner
>
> I ask you American english experts:
> Is the use of "do do" a no no in an American English sentence?
Looks fine to me.
--Ron Ron
--
I believe I found the missing link between animal
and civilized man. It is us. -Konrad Lorenz
R H Draney
It's a shame UC isn't here much these days..."is is" used to send him into
fits....r
Pat Durkin
"R H Draney" <dado...@spamcop.net> wrote in message
news:eraaj...@drn.newsguy.com...
> contrex filted:
>>
>>On 18 Feb, 08:01, R H Draney <dadoc...@spamcop.net> wrote:
>>
>>> What the problem is is something else, not word-doubling....r
>>
>>Yes, that's what I feel too. I see plenty of queries here where the
>>question is posed as "Is this correct?" but one feels the questioner
>>is really thinking, "I am fairly sure this is grammatical, but it
>>looks clumsy".
>
> It's a shame UC isn't here much these days..."is is" used to send him
> into
> fits....r
>
wall.
Pavel314
"Peter Moylan" <pe...@ozebelgDieSpammers.org> wrote in message
news:45d7a505$0$16558$afc3...@news.optusnet.com.au...
> HVS wrote:
>
>> As others have confirmed, what you wrote was grammatical; but "do do" is
>> a euphemism for "shit".
>
> Only, I would have thought, when it's a misspelling of "doo-doo".
This thread reminds me of the scene in "Young Frankenstein" where Dr.
Frankenstein's fiancée asks his pretty lab assistant "What exactly is it
that you do do?"
Everyone looks a bit perplexed at the question.
Paul
contrex
> "R H Draney" <dadoc...@spamcop.net> wrote in messagenews:eraaj...@drn.newsguy.com...> contrex filted:
>
> > It's a shame UC isn't here much these days..."is is" used to send him
> > into fits
>
> For me it's the "was is", and the "is was/were" that drives me up the
> wall.
I was very fond (still am actually) of the English rock band The The.
I was amazed, on looking them up in Wikipedia that members have
included Johnny Marr, Jools Holland, Sinéad O'Connor, and Neneh
Cherry.
mm
<sgro...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>I was recently chastised for composing a post to an American tax-related
>USENET newsgroup using "do do" in one of my sentences.
I thought it was spelled doodoo. If you mean deep doodoo.
If you are inclined to email me
for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-)
UC
"...sometimes politicians actualy do something" is how I would say it.
Einde O'Callaghan
Einde O'Callaghan
HVS
> UC schrieb:
>> "...sometimes politicians actualy do something" is how I would
>> say it.
>>
> Perhaps, but the other way is also grammatical and quite
> acceptable.
Dropping the doubling of the verb also completely destroys the effect
of the parallel construction.
"People say politicians don't do anything, but sometimes politicans
do do something" loses a lot of its intended emphasis if "don't do
anything" is followed by "do something" instead of "do do something".
UC
But it isn't. The empahtic adverbial 'do' is not used along with the
verb to 'do'.
R H Draney
>
>On Sat, 17 Feb 2007 19:02:01 GMT, Susan Grossman
><sgro...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
>>I was recently chastised for composing a post to an American tax-related
>>USENET newsgroup using "do do" in one of my sentences.
>
>I thought it was spelled doodoo. If you mean deep doodoo.
Weißt nicht wie gut ich dir bin?...r
UC
Sie haben Weltweisheit in meiner Kleide!
Sie haben Schwerz in meinem Herz!
Owain
>>>>Is the use of "do do" a no no in an American English sentence?
>>Perhaps, but the other way is also grammatical and quite acceptable.
> verb to 'do'.
<panto> Oh yes it is! </>
Owain
UC
You're a fucking idiot. You know NOTHING about English. Go away, moron.
R H Draney
And that's really about as much rebuttal as you're going to manage...the
author's name had scrolled off the top of my window, and I hadn't been keeping
careful track, when I got to the part "is not used"...I thought to myself,
that's *got* to be UC posting...sure enough, when I scrolled back up, I was able
to award myself a cigar....r
Einde O'Callaghan
Einde O'Callaghan
Einde O'Callaghan
Einde O'Callaghan
UC
This is an ENGLISH-speaking group. Many of you don't qualify.
the Omrud
> On Feb 21, 5:05 pm, Einde O'Callaghan <einde.ocallag...@planet-
> interkom.de> wrote:
> > UC schrieb:
> >
> > > You're a fucking idiot. You know NOTHING about English. Go away, moron.
> >
> > A case of the pot calling the shiny new kettle black!
>
> This is an ENGLISH-speaking group. Many of you don't qualify.
Please, please, can we somehow get UC and PG trapped in a thread
together?
--
David
=====
Skitt
> UC schrieb:
>> Einde O'Callaghan wrote:
>>> UC schrieb:
>>>>> I was recently chastised for composing a post to an American
>>>>> tax-related USENET newsgroup using "do do" in one of my sentences.
>>>>>
>>>>> Here is the quote:
>>>>> "talk is what politicians do when they don't want to do anything.
>>>>> Sometimes, politicians do do something (not much, but something)"
>>>>>
>>>>> (REFERENCE: misc.invest.stocks article titled "Can I ever get out
>>>>> of AMT hell (after a tax-naive ISO exercise)" dated Wed, 14 Feb
>>>>> 2007 11:19:21 EST)
>>>>>
>>>>> I ask you American english experts:
>>>>> Is the use of "do do" a no no in an American English sentence?
>>>>
>>>> it.
>>>
>>> Perhaps, but the other way is also grammatical and quite acceptable
>>
>> verb to 'do'.
>
> Is this another rule that you've just made up?
Careful! UC will start calling you names.
--
Skitt
Jes' fine!
Einde O'Callaghan
> On Feb 21, 5:05 pm, Einde O'Callaghan <einde.ocallag...@planet-
> interkom.de> wrote:
>
>>UC schrieb:
>>
>>
>>>On Feb 21, 3:50 pm, Owain <owain47...@stirlingcity.coo.uk> wrote:
>>
>>>>UC wrote:
>>
>>>>>>>>Is the use of "do do" a no no in an American English sentence?
>>
>>>>>>>"...sometimes politicians actualy do something" is how I would say it.
>>
>>>>>>Perhaps, but the other way is also grammatical and quite acceptable.
>>
>>>>>But it isn't. The empahtic adverbial 'do' is not used along with the
>>>>>verb to 'do'.
>>
>>>><panto> Oh yes it is! </>
>>
>>>>Owain
>>
>>>You're a fucking idiot. You know NOTHING about English. Go away, moron.
>>
>>A case of the pot calling the shiny new kettle black!
>>
>>Einde O'Callaghan
>
>
>
>
> This is an ENGLISH-speaking group. Many of you don't qualify.
>
I seem to recall that you seem to speak both 18th century German and
18th century English - how well I can't judge since I wasn't alive at
that time.
Einde O'Callaghan
UC
do do?
Scooby do? Diddly-do?
No true Scotsman uses "...do do..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman
The fact that you can find some miserable bastard in Yorkshire or New
Hampshire who will say it means nothing.
Einde O'Callaghan
with your own prejudice.
Einde O'Callaghan
John Dean
This is a job for ... Ariadne.
--
John Dean
Oxford
John Dean
> On Feb 21, 3:50 pm, Owain <owain47...@stirlingcity.coo.uk> wrote:
>> UC wrote:
>>>>>> Is the use of "do do" a no no in an American English sentence?
>>>>> "...sometimes politicians actualy do something" is how I would
>>>>> say it.
>>>> Perhaps, but the other way is also grammatical and quite
>>>> acceptable.
>>> But it isn't. The empahtic adverbial 'do' is not used along with the
>>> verb to 'do'.
>>
>> <panto> Oh yes it is! </>
>>
>
> moron.
But please - do do that voodoo that you do so well
--
John "Doin' the Do by Betty Boo" Dean
Oxford
UC
>
> - Show quoted text -
Informed usage, my friend.
Odysseus
mm <NOPSAM...@bigfoot.com> wrote:
<snip>
> I thought it was spelled doodoo. If you mean deep doodoo.
Yes, or "doo-doo". I think "do do" is quite unexceptionable and
unambiguous in speech, where a marked variation in stress (and a slight
pause between the two words) normally makes the meaning quite clear. In
print, however, I guess it verges on the infelicitous (so to speak). But
were I to stumble over it I think my initial 'mental pronunciation'
might be /do do/, like the female deer of song -- or the extinct bird --
at any rate the I'm pretty sure the potty term wouldn't cross my mind.
--
Odysseus
R H Draney
>
>the Omrud wrote:
>>
>> Please, please, can we somehow get UC and PG trapped in a thread
>> together?
>
>This is a job for ... Ariadne.
Ariadne Rassic?...or did we get a definite no for that particular anagram?...r
Einde O'Callaghan
EDinde O'Callaghan
ChrisR
"Odysseus" <odysseu...@yahoo-dot.com> wrote in message
news:odysseus1479-at-2D...@news.telus.net...
"Do what you do do well boy
Do what you do do we-ell
Give your love and all of your heart
And do what you do do well"
(Ned Miller)
Chris R
UC
Look, me Irish rogue, wenn ye get ter England an spaek da King's tongu
maebae yer get ter post here, laddie.
Einde O'Callaghan
UC
Oh, luke! 'e kinn talk! Listen, yer patater-aetin shaep-fucker,
untail yer ken spaek like am English gentleman, get back ter yer
farmin.
CDB
> On Feb 22, 10:00 am, Einde O'Callaghan <einde.ocallag...@planet-
>> Racist shitbag
>
> Oh, luke! 'e kinn talk! Listen, yer patater-aetin shaep-fucker,
> untail yer ken spaek like am English gentleman, get back ter yer
> farmin.
You are Martian Boreman, AICMFP.
UC
Rusty bugger, ye...
Owain
> No true Scotsman uses "...do do..."
awaanbileyerheid
Owain
UC
Tain't ENGLISH, innit?
Peter Duncanson
wrote:
I say old chap. 'Tis perfect English.
The pronunciation may vary from Scottish place to Scottish place,
but English it is.
--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.english.usage)
UC
> On 22 Feb 2007 09:54:54 -0800, "UC" <uraniumcommit...@yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
> >On Feb 22, 7:56 am, Owain <owain47...@stirlingcity.coo.uk> wrote:
> >> UC wrote:
> >> > No true Scotsman uses "...do do..."
>
> >> awaanbileyerheid
>
> >> Owain
>
> >Tain't ENGLISH, innit?
>
> I say old chap. 'Tis perfect English.
> The pronunciation may vary from Scottish place to Scottish place,
> but English it is.
>
> --
> Peter Duncanson, UK
> (in alt.english.usage)
Ya'll dohuhn't buleev thayat do yuh?
Whah I's a-goin' to Bermenham tuhmoawruh...tuh git mih summah dat rat-
poisunhn..
John Ramsay
ChrisR wrote:
Another song triples it :
"I just love what you do do do".
And some claim the standard British greeting:
"How do you do?" Is either far too personal,
or borderline obscene -:)
R H Draney
>
>And some claim the standard British greeting:
>
>"How do you do?" Is either far too personal,
>or borderline obscene -:)
British?...I thought Mouth and MacNeal were Dutch....r