I'm not sure the (multiple) American English dialects are being reproduced totally faithfully

[conuly]

in this audiodrama I'm listening to.

Is "usedta could" a feature of Upper Midwestern, specifically Minnesota, speech? I thought you didn't much hear that sort of double modal* outside the South.

* Used to is sort of a modal, but I refuse to use the phrase "quasimodal" and, having learned it, I also refuse to use any other phrase because honestly, nothing can top that.

***************

Single Line Animals Brought to Life

What's the Deal With Those Weird "Torpedo" Bats?

This is a project about shared DNA in music: How sound is passed down over generations

With tears and tail wags, San Quentin inmates reunite with puppies they raised into service dogs

A Farmhouse Refuge From a Nazi Blitz Became His Forever Home (This is in the real estate section, and it shows. Gorgeous photos.)

This Interactive Map Shows You Where Your Food Comes From

Second child dies of measles as western Texas outbreak worsens

Climate Violence Is Coming for Rich Countries, and They’re Not Ready

'Don't speak, don't film': Journalist arrests fuel fears for democracy after Turkey protests

President Trump’s mindless tariffs will cause economic havoc

Trump leaves emerging market central banks with no clean choices

Comments

[profiterole_reads]

"usedta could" has few Google results, but "used to could" has 930,000 results, so I guess some people use it.

[ethelmay]

There's a song called "I Used to Could" that is probably skewing results.

[conuly]

I know it’s a term some people use. What I don’t know is if it’s a term that is widespread among (presumably White) Minnesotans.

[ethelmay]

I don't recall it from my Minnesota friends (nor from when I was in college in MN, but that's, um, a while ago now). In fact I am not sure I have ever heard it.

[jessie_c]

"quasimodal"
Does it ring a bell?

[conuly]

You know, I think it may....

[chazzbanner]

Minnesotan here. I don't recognize it, but then I'm a middle-class now-urban retired semi-academic... though I did grow up in a small town.

[james]

I am sitting here thinking "is usedta could" not proper speech? But I grew up rural Ozarks/Midwestern/Utah. (People think I am from Canada because of my accent, but it is really because I was raised by the television.)

I don't use it often, but it is apparently lodged in my brain as Normal.

I do not know if, or how, this helps you.

[conuly]

Do you have any other double modals? Might could? Will can? Should ought?

[james]

I do! I grew up with them, although right now I can think of none of them. (I have not had my tea yet.) But they sound perfectly fine to my ear.

[conuly]

The masks came, btw - it was you who sent them, right? - but nobody told me at all so I don't know how long they were sitting in the foyer.

[james]

Yes, it was! Glad they arrived safely.

DARE to the rescue!

[pauamma]

https://www.daredictionary.com/view/dare/ID_00061187 only lists South and South Midland as regions.

Re: DARE to the rescue!

[conuly]

That may be out of date.

Re: DARE to the rescue!

[pauamma]

Tasty, tasty timesink! Thanks.

[buttonsbeadslace]

I have not heard "usedta could" before, and even "might could" (which I have heard, and which feels like a similar sort of thing) is not something I heard growing up in Wisconsin. I think our equivalent would be "Usedta be, you could [do X]"

[applenym]

I've lived in Minnesota for most of my life, and I don't remember ever hearing "usedta could" as something people say here. But I've always lived in an urban area, just 15 minutes from downtown Minneapolis. Maybe it's something people say in other areas of MN? But I really don't think so!