The spell checker on my WORD 2003 program bounces back "daren't" as a non-word. Yet, M-W lists it. What's up with those chipheads at Microsoft?

Parboly they took the top 10,000 words off the wordcount list and thought that'd be enough for any normal person.

You need a special British version maybe, one that would include daren't, mustn't, and of course, dog's bollocks.
http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang

a special British version Oh, man--can't you just envision a "conversation" between British and U.S. spell-checkers? I think it would be a lot like that howl-worthy Abbott and Costello dialogue that Ted posted in W & F!

B: I say, daren't is indeed a word.
US: Naw.
B: Gnaw? I'm not hungry.

That's funny Father Steve. If I set my Word program on Enlgish (US) it accept the word.

Tell me though, doesn't the U.S. versions of Word have dictionaries in a whole slew of languages like ours?

Down south we don't much say "daren't"; but we sometimes do. Mostly we just say "dasen't", which is different.

RANKIN: Indeed and they did. The poor Cadi is so terrified by all he has haird of the destruction of the Spanish fleet, that he daren't trust himself in the captain's hands.

..........

DRINKWATER: (in intense distress, appealing to Lady Cicely) Down't let em burn em, Lidy. They dasn't if you horder them not to.

Captain Brassbound's Conversion by George Bernard Shaw, Act III.

What's up with those chipheads at Microsoft?

Padre, you're the best placed of all of us to do so, so why don't you jest mosey on down the road, kick down their front door and ask them?

why don't you jest mosey on down the road, kick down their front door and ask them?

My darling daughter dated a Softie for a time and I thought that would give me all sorts of access into the inner workings of the Brain Trust in nearby Redmond. Boy, was I wrong! Those people are more tight-lipped than the CIA.

daren't

My favorite form of dare is durst. Is there a form durstn't? There should be. Quite lovely. Why would anybody modify their speech based on the ravings of a prescriptivist (digital or human)?

a Softie That's what they're called?? HA!

jheem, I think I've seen 'dursn't' in books, occasionally--usually where the characters' language is represented as colloquial. Hey--for some reason, my mind just flashed on Tom Sawyer. Anybody remember reading it there?

I think I've seen 'dursn't' in books, occasionally

According to Google, Dickens. Though, maybe dasn't for Tom and Huck.

"Oh! I durstn't do it," rejoined the small servant; "Miss Sally 'ud kill me, if she know'd I come up here."

But I think these forms are from the present "dares not", whereas durst is a preterite or past participial form of to dare.

I durst not go abroad == I dared not go abroad.

a Softie ... That's what they're called??

Yup, 'cause, if you called 'em "micros", nobody would know whatcha meant.

My darling daughter dated a Softie for a time

Funny, in the Valley we allus called 'em rat bastards.

Pennsylvania Dutch people use dare and daren't quite often. I particularly like the way my very Dutchified grandparents use dare. For instance, Grandma might say to a small grandchild staring longingly at a dish of candy, "You dare take one!" This meaning, in essence, "Don't be shy, you're allowed to have one!"

Haven't heard much from Rapunzel in quite a while. The bookselling business must have been brisk and all-consuming.

Thanks for this insight into the sometimes-peculiar speech of the Pennsylvania Dutch.

Have you seen the new television program where the producers put some Amish kids and some California kids in the same house and watch them interact?

...doesn't the U.S. versions of Word have dictionaries in a whole slew of languages like ours?

Only if you choose to install all/the foreign language supports when setting Word up ... not that anyone on this board wouldn't choose to do so by default... [embarassed-e]



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Yes I "set Word up", I don't "set up Word", for the same reason I "take Word down", I don't "take down Word". Work with me here, Jackie...