Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Contractions . . . No not those!

Is willn't a valid contraction? As in "I will not." "I willn't!" I think the British say "I shan't" for "I shall not!"

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Philocrites here: "Won't" = "will not." Why? "Contracted forms, especially after pronouns, began to appear 16c., as in sheele for 'she will.' The form with an apostrophe is from 17c.; won't for will not is first recorded mid-15c. as wynnot, later wonnot (1584) before the modern form emerged 1667." (Online Etymology Dictionary)

10:06 AM  
Blogger Ono said...

Thank you!

I've always wondered to what extent we would understand each other if a 16th century Englishman was transported to the 21/22 century.

4:57 PM  

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