i've dived into an unnecessary and senselessly huge project -- trying to determine if the verb "do" can be considered a class indicator in shakespeare's comedies. probably not, but the project is wonderfully consuming: "do" has a tremendously interesting and often overlooked role in the history of english. one particular historian (john mcwhorter, whose emphasis is in pidgin and creole languages) contends that the only other languages in the world that have such a verb are welsh and cornish. routine usage doesn't rear its ugly head until early modern. you can fill in the rest.

trying to explain this to my roommates/girlfriend:

"as in, i want to do your mom? past tense: i did your mom."
"i will have done your mom."
"or! your mom is as wet as the morning dew."
"ooh -- your mom has more numbers than the dewey decimal system."

good.