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#35815 07/19/01 02:20 PM
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I always say "I never used to". English being my foreign language, I suspect I must have been taught that way, but it sounds good to me. "Used not to", "didn't use to", or "used to not" sound a bit strange for me...



#35816 07/19/01 02:33 PM
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I always say "I never used to".

Marianna, it sounds just fine to me too, except that "never" adds a level of absoluteness that is missing in the original negative. In many cases I suspect that the negative would be rephrased as a positive. "I used to not get up until.." ==> "I used to lie in bed until..". I am not sure how much rephrasing to avoid awkward constructions the brain does without us being aware of it, or even if it is possible to find out.

Rod


#35817 07/19/01 02:44 PM
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The way I'd phrase it would be "When I was little I never used to like Brussel sprouts, but now I really enjoy them". But I do see that it seems a bit more total than the others. You are right about our rejiggling the sentence so it sounds more correct, sometimes consciously, and (probably) sometimes subconsciously. I don't know how one would find out, though...



#35818 07/19/01 02:53 PM
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A liked xara's (You lurking out there xara? Come back. We miss you) concept about a word or phrase "tasting" right.



#35819 07/19/01 07:55 PM
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I tend to use the word 'usually' in those circumstance...I never usually got up before noon. 'Got' puts it in the past tense and 'usually' softens the finality of the word 'never'.


#35820 07/20/01 04:13 AM
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I use both forms: I didn't use to (or never used to for emphasis) and I used to not, but for me there's a difference between them.

For me, "I didn't use to" just mentions a past situation, but "I used to not" implies a conscious intent.

Thus, "I didn't use to watch soap operas but now I find them addictive." That's just the way it was, I didn't watch them.
But, "I used to not watch soap operas" would imply that I'd made a conscious decision not to watch them for some reason.

Thus I would always say "I never used to like fish" rather than "I used to not like fish", since liking is not a matter of conscious decision.

Bingley


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#35821 07/20/01 01:38 PM
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Goodness! It's all getting too compliated for me.
I'll just use whatever falls out of my mouth and not think any more about it.
I used to think consciously about grammar when I was younger but I later got used to talking differently from the way I usually speak in casual conversation.


#35822 07/20/01 07:25 PM
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"I didn't use to" just mentions a past situation, but "I used to not" implies a conscious intent.

Good one, Bingley. I never would have been able to articulate this distinction, but since you point it out, I can see it and I agree!




#35823 07/20/01 09:05 PM
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Bingley>For me, "I didn't use to" just mentions a past situation, but "I used to not" implies a conscious intent.

but this is complicated by the usual inability of a listener to distinguish the past tense of "used to", as in this July 20 AP quote:
"I use to watch him a lot. He's someone I tried to imitate."



#35824 07/21/01 03:39 AM
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"Use to (or 'used to'?), we would go over ter Aunt Jenny's twict a week." Has anyone come across this adverbial usage of "use to" in the sense of "formerly" or "at one time". ( I practice my silent, invisible "wince, gag or sob" whenever I hear it, which is, alas, too often.) I think (and hope and pray) that it is merely a rare, moribund USA rural, or perhaps Southern regional, usage. In any case, yet another barbarism, another tiltable windmill for the rusty, blunted lance* of Ol' Scrib. (* Go ahead and have fun with that phrase, if you like. We need a chuckle or two.)


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