The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #2920   Message #2748664
Posted By: Jim Dixon
20-Oct-09 - 09:38 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Have You Seen But a White Lily Grow
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Have You Seen But a White Lily Grow
Not just Elizabethan, but dialectical. My father, born in rural Kentucky in 1899, would use "but" in this way: "I ain't got but one dollar" = "I have only one dollar". He was also in the habit of using double negatives; I can't imagine him using "but" in this sense without a negative such as "ain't".