The Do in Don't

The funny thing about the word "don't" is it starts with do!

Examples >

"Don't eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil" (Bible)

"Don't be evil" (Google)

"Don't have sex before marraige" (Many)

"Don't take drugs" (Many)

"Don't do this that or the other" (many)

How many times have you told your child "don't do this or that" only for the child to seemingly take more notice of the first two letters of the word don't than the full word?

Has it ever occured to you that the word don't begins with a "DO"?

Do you think the letters D and O have a bearing on the subsequent action or don't you think so?

 

Funny
DO DO DO DO

 

omgggggg do do do ,,,da da da

 

It's true for the English language, and I can see how a don't can be perceived as a do. In most European languages they use a negative prefix (not sure if that's what it's called) that makes the entire sentence negative. So, a DON'T is just a simple NO. So, they would say: no eat, no go, no drink, etc. and removing the NO takes the whole sentence back to a positive meaning.

I'm always fascinated with how different languages work.

 

Not sure what is funny about it. It is simply a contraction, and thus the ' mark. It is a contraction of the word "do" and "not". "Don't" means exactly that, "do not". The apostrophe mark simply takes the place of the "o" in not. This is no mystery and the word is exactly what is appears to be. It is the same in all words where contractions are used. The word "don't" is simply the combination of two words

Can not = Can't
Do not = Don't
Have not = Haven't

Or other contractions:

I am = I'm

So when you tell you child "Do not eat with your mouth open" you can also say "don't eat with your mouth open" and they mean the exact same thing. I don't find it confusing whatsoever. Neither do my kids.

I am not sure if you are just confused or what. This appears to be much ado about nothing.

 

Well in my experience with my child using the words without the apostrophe has an even more "tempting" effect and results in the opposite action to the intent of the sentence in a majority of cases brwntwn. It takes further repitition to actually get the desired effect to happen I have found.

EG a "Can not" or a "Do not" first prompts the effect of the first word as the first thought process.

As for "I am not sure if you are just confused or what" it's just my real life observations nothing to do with being "confused"!

As for being funny that's just a teminology we use in the UK, not that it is actually something that makes one laugh. Like I might say to my wife "well it's funny you should say it's cold I thought it was warm", for example, it doesn't mean it is funny it's just what we say. I take it you don't use the word "funny" that way in the US then?

I have noticed this strange phenomena more and more with my own child though wiht the Do not thing though, but first noticed this with my six year old Nephew and my eight year old Niece back in 2003 when I had to look after them for some months after my little sister died.

@qwikad I find studying such things in language fascinating to. I had not really considered how other languages construction work though I must say as have not had the opportunity to observe such things properly.

 

One could say that it's a tempest in a teapot.

 

I guess it just seemed odd to me that you thought it worth pointing out that the contraction of "do not" includes the word "do". When you asked if it had occurred to others that the word "do" was a part of the contraction, it appeared as though you were confused or simply did not realize that it was a contraction of the word "do" and "not".

To me, the only way for someone not to realize that the word "do" is a part of "don't" would be someone who did not understand that the word "don't" was actually a contraction. I can see how people learning English as a second language may have just learned the meaning of the word "don't" without ever understanding that it is a contraction of the words "do" and "not".

 

It's important to remember that "don't" is just a contraction. It has been shorted and modified phonetically, so it sounds very different to "do not". The letters do are in there, but also in "dog".

It's part of child development. They will do things anyway to test limits, for example. So, they aren't confusing "don't" with "do" or "dog", so when you say "don't ride" when they try to ride the pet dog like a horse, they aren't thinking you're saying "dog ride" or "do ride" when they do it. They don't understand the consequences yet, for example, or want to see how far they can push you. Or just because to them it's fun.

I learnt contractions at a very young age and understood why the letters "do" were there and that it meant "do not".

Maybe for non-native speakers contractions could be confusing. With my wife, I try to avoid using them, however she understands them well and isn't confused when I do use them.

 

My friend has one of those Paris Hilton dogs. It looks for all the world like a large rat. If a child where to ride it like a horse, it surely would be the last day on earth for the dog.

 

I agree. I can assure you my son knows, both from the word and more importantly the tone of my voice, when I am telling him "don't hit your brother" or "don't throw that at the TV" or "don't go in the candy drawer". That is not to say, I don't have to repeat myself several times until he actually stops.

 

Hahaha. As a kid, they want to ride Paris Hilton's dog, then as an adult they want to ride Paris Hilton.

It's all fun. My stepdaughter throws her tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants from the shop and says, "I don't want that either!" (Like when buying her some new sports shorts and she sees a ball she wants, for example.)

 

OK I have further tested this and should probably have mentioned that I am well aware of children pushing things and testing boundaries etc.

How I tested the things with my own daughter by taking say the word "Do" in Don't or Do not out of the equation is to try diffrent phrasing so like say something like "Name" (Instead of Don't) that would or could and it makes a huge difference

Make sense?

So let's say instead of saying "Don't go near that fire" or Do not go near that fire.

Use "Jane come away here" or "John come here to me" and the effect is wholly different to using the word Don't and Do not and also by taking out the focus word fire to, the fire is also forgotten to rather than being brought into sight and mind and becoming the focus of the sentence.

But if I use the Do not and focus I nearly always find myself repeating myself.

 

I think the "do not" and "don't" scenario for children works on a different mechanism as children pay more attention to the negative rather than the positive. For example if you ask a child not to do something, you are pushing him/her to actually so something. Children at younger ages are tempted to do things they are asked not to. They are in a process of making new searches, in a way adding more meaning to their actions. This is also a direct attempt to gain parents attention.

 

Yes you should try filming it and watching it in slow motion you can actually watch them being compelled by the words in sequence, it is amazing to watch...(it is age depenedent to as you say also)

The same with the focus element like fire say, you can watch their head turn and their eyes focus on the very thing you are in fact trying to draw focus away from.

 

Honestly, I've never really saw it that way and probably will never make much of it. I mean, the word dog also has do in it - but nobody really makes much of it either.

 

I don't think (or am not quite so sure) it has the same connotations though. There must be ways to test it though.

 

Funnily enough, I'll probably never look at don't the same way ever again. Now I just can't stop noticing the do in it.

 

My dog has a lot of do in her, she keeps leaving it all over my lawn...

 

Think about Google as an example

Does >

Don't be evil - work the way one would expect or is the opposite where the desire lays?

where is the buzz - where is the adrenalin rush - where is the sense of acheivment in many cases - where is the sense of mastery - where is the sense of beating it. It's rarely in abiding by the essense of the "Don't" now is it?

It is in many many cases in taking the Do from the Don't and acting on that instead.

(irelevant of whether it is really there motto or not that is)