4 ms·

I'm not sure what you mean by "idiomatic", but it is certainly not valid grammar, even though it is more common now. It is a beginner mistake people carry over

by prmph 5mo ago

I'm not sure what you mean by "idiomatic", but it is certainly not valid grammar, even though it is more common now. It is a beginner mistake people carry over from other languages. I agree English is not consistent, but the usage rules are specific. Can you provide a reference from an authority on the English Language, if you meant it is valid grammar?

tardedmeme 5mo ago
My source is that I'm a native English speaker from an English speaking country and me and everyone around me have used this phrase since childhood. ("me and ... have ..." is another thing that upsets language purists)
- prmph 5mo ago
  Sure, and I can also make up my own rules as I go along. After all language evolves, right? /s I didn't purged... I don't had any money... See how silly they sound? The whole point of language is to have rules to facilitate understanding.
1659447091 5mo ago
I found this post late after the NYT changed the title and the HN title is "didn't use to", so was confused on what the problem was because I figured the post you replied to simply misspelled "didn't used to". Anyway, was curious myself and found this [0] which looking through comments mentions what I thought the problem was, spelling. Others say it's intended. But then this one [1] has far more discussion on the topic and a comment under the question (from `a retired English grammarian`) "How you want to spell /'dɪdən yustə/ is what causes all the problems. "[1]. "didn't used to" simply doesn't look right to me (I can't recall ever having come across it), but the /'dɪdən yustə/ explanation is the simplest way to make sense of correctness. Another interesting discussion[2] (this seems to be a popular topic) has a few ESL teachers that say they teach "didn't use to" and taught "didn't used to" as being wrong and were surprised to find that "didn't used to" is quite common with usage being correct depending on which rules a person chooses to acknowledge. There are apparently rules that make "didn't used to" correct and they are talked about in the others, but more so in this one. [0] https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/385006/didnt-used-to-or-didnt-use-to https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/385006/didnt-use... [1] https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8816/whats-the-negation-of-i-used-to-be-surely-not-i-didnt-used-to-be https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8816/whats-the-n... [2] https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2756 https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2756

by prmph 5mo ago

tardedmeme 5mo ago

My source is that I'm a native English speaker from an English speaking country and me and everyone around me have used this phrase since childhood. ("me and ... have ..." is another thing that upsets language purists)

prmph 5mo ago
Sure, and I can also make up my own rules as I go along. After all language evolves, right? /s I didn't purged... I don't had any money... See how silly they sound? The whole point of language is to have rules to facilitate understanding.

1659447091 5mo ago

I found this post late after the NYT changed the title and the HN title is "didn't use to", so was confused on what the problem was because I figured the post you replied to simply misspelled "didn't used to". Anyway, was curious myself and found this [0] which looking through comments mentions what I thought the problem was, spelling. Others say it's intended. But then this one [1] has far more discussion on the topic and a comment under the question (from `a retired English grammarian`) "How you want to spell /'dɪdən yustə/ is what causes all the problems. "[1]. "didn't used to" simply doesn't look right to me (I can't recall ever having come across it), but the /'dɪdən yustə/ explanation is the simplest way to make sense of correctness. Another interesting discussion[2] (this seems to be a popular topic) has a few ESL teachers that say they teach "didn't use to" and taught "didn't used to" as being wrong and were surprised to find that "didn't used to" is quite common with usage being correct depending on which rules a person chooses to acknowledge. There are apparently rules that make "didn't used to" correct and they are talked about in the others, but more so in this one. [0] https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/385006/didnt-used-to-or-didnt-use-to https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/385006/didnt-use... [1] https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8816/whats-the-negation-of-i-used-to-be-surely-not-i-didnt-used-to-be https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8816/whats-the-n... [2] https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2756 https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2756