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There's well-known expression: Don't you dare...

Is there a way to somehow make it stronger, to show more of your emotions when you "asking" person not to dare etc.? I've heard 2 cases, but don't really know the differences or even are they correct or not.

  1. Don't you just dare...
  2. Don't you even dare...

What do you think?

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    Hello, Lomi. Here, there may be a difference in frequency of use between the bald statement "Don't you just dare!" and "Don't you just dare [to] V ..." Why don't you Google first, and show an example or two, and data like ' "Don't you just dare to" shows only 5 Google hits'? You could include instances where the position of 'dare' is switched to immediately before a to-infinitive ("Don't you dare even to think [...] "). (Though 'dare' can take a bare or to-infinitive after the imperative 'Don't you', I think that 'dare even think' sounds rather unnatural.)
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Sep 3, 2015 at 9:25
  • 'Don't [you] even dare' is a common variant. 'Don't you just X' is usually a different idiom, e.g. 'Don't you just love ice-cream?' As Edwin Ashworth says, can you indicate what you have done so far to investigate this? Thanks.
    – chasly - supports Monica
    Commented Sep 3, 2015 at 9:31
  • @chaslyfromUK I searched on google before asking here and there is only usual usage of "don't you dare", difficult to find with "just" or "even".
    – Lomi
    Commented Sep 3, 2015 at 11:06
  • Though I see some people use it, and as far as I understood they use bith "just dare" and "even dare" in the same meaning. I was asking if it's possible to use those expressions in that exact form, with no changing the words order, because "don't you just love ice-cream" is completely different from original meaning.
    – Lomi
    Commented Sep 3, 2015 at 11:09

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Don't you dare... Q: Is there a way to make it stronger?

There are several ways to express this more vehemently (U.S. English):

Don't even think about it!

Don't go there! (This doesn't mean physically going someplace -- it means the same as the previous phrase.)

Note also that "Don't you dare!" is stronger than "Don't you dare show them that photograph!" (or whatever the contemplated action is).

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1.Don't you just dare... 2.Don't you even dare...

In the variant of English I am familiar with as a native speaker, (1) is incorrect and is a confusion with a different idiom. To give all the rules would take up a lot of space so I'll give some examples and offer a way to research this more.

I am used to hearing:

Just don't [you] dare.

Don't [you] even dare.

Don't you just love that?

By examining the links at the bottom of this ngram and trying your own searches you can discover more examples.

Google ngram: don't dare,don't even dare,don't just dare,just don't dare

Note that you may have to click the 'Search lots of books' button to get the full results.

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  • (Also BrE) I think unqualified Don't you even dare! sounds decidedly odd. In such contexts, even effectively means [not] so much as, implying that "daring" is one of the least possible responses in the current context (you're being instructed not to even do that, let alone any more extreme response). I think the usage only makes sense if followed by an additional clause specifying some relatively restrained response, that even could reasonably refer to. Thus, Don't [you] even dare think about that! (or imho better, Don't dare even think about it!)
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Sep 3, 2015 at 17:14
  • In "Don't you just dare!", 'just' is being used in the emphasiser pragmatic role (rather like a second exclamation mark). This expression is used as a variant of "Just don't dare!"; it can stand alone. With "Don't even dare ..." the use of 'even' is again as an emphasiser, but in this case fastens onto the to-infininitive or bare infinitive that must follow. "Don't even dare to mention his name [never mind writing to him]!"
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Dec 3, 2015 at 23:20

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