Forum: english.stackexchange.com
Tags: <word-usage><american-english><contractions><contemporary-english>
Title: Do Americans say "don't" as often as the British?
Question: This is really a question for Americans.  When watching US TV or films, it's often my impression that—while using all the other contractions—Americans don't seem so keen on 'don't' and use 'do not' rather more often than we Brits. I also don't think this difference only occurs when it is stressed.  Any comments?

Answers:
sents: text: I did some searches in the Corpus of Contemporary American English and compared the results to similar searches in the British National corpus .
text: What I found was that overall, in American English there was a 7.9-to-1 ratio of
text: don’t to do not .
text: With breakdowns by type: SPOKEN 19.6FICTION 17.9MAGAZINE 7.5NEWSPAPER
text: 7.7ACADEMIC 0.5TOTAL 7.9
text: In British English overall, the ratio was 4.4-to-1 in favor of don’t , with breakdowns by type: SPOKEN 56.9FICTION 16.8MAGAZINE 4.1NEWSPAPER 3.4NON-ACAD 0.9ACADEMIC 0.2MISC 0.9
text: So, if it is reasonable to conclude anything from this data, it is that Americans overall use don’t about twice as frequently as the British, but the British use don’t in speech about 2.9 times more frequently than Americans.
text: In any case, these are not big enough ratios to be noticeable by anyone not counting every incidence.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/39/nohat
score: 23
sents: text: I think we use "don't" and "can't" almost exclusively in normal conversation here in the U.S. "Do not" and "cannot" are reserved for making special emphasis or dramatic effect.
text: But we have a long history of using the word "don't" — particularly in admonishing our former colonial masters.
text: Have a look at this colonial American flag (Gadsden Flag, source: Wikipedia).
text: And its naval equivalent:
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/2303/Robusto
score: 4
sents: text: I'm new to the site.
text: I stumbled across this forum question, because as a British ESOL Tutor, living in the USA for the past 25 years, my lesson for my students tonight is about "contractions"!
text: I, from my own personal experience have observed and noted, that the spoken contraction (don't) is definitely 'spoken' less frequently, by all and sundry, around Palm Beach County where I reside.
text: In fact, as a Brit, I treasure be a proud and frequent speaker of contractions, especially (don't!)
text: but my oldest teenage son and his teenage buddies rarely speak this contraction.
text: They, in fact, to my observant ear, only say "do not"!
text: I'm constantly admonishing my son for not saying "don't!
text: ", instead choosing his wording in a similar vein to his fellow teens.
text: I will, however, bring to your attention, that my son likes to text IDK, in place of "I don't know".
text: Which then makes me in turn chuckle, because of his infrequent use of the contraction "don't".
text: I need to draw to his attention
text: his acronym doesn't make sense unless he actually uses the contraction "don't" in his conversation, because his acronym should instead read IDNK (I do not know)!
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/144504/HLM
score: 3
sents: text: I don't doubt that we say "don't" in the US as much as our cousins across the pond.
text: That is, I expect usage is similar in the US and UK.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/2944/John Satta
score: 2
sents: text: I've voted for nohat's answer, because of the evidence, but I offer my observations anyway:
text: I find that Americans generally use accepted contractions, including don't .
text: I rarely hear do not except for emphasis.
text: Another data point:
text: In Star Trek:
text: The Next Generation , Worf and Data are conspicuous for their contraction-free speech, again including don't (Worf is formal by choice; Data has some kind of weird programming deficiency).
text: This is actually played up in the show from time to time.
text: Everyone else uses don't freely.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/2923/John Y
score: 2
sents: text: When I was young
text: I was taught not to use contractions in my written works.
text: I wonder if the same English style conventions were taught in the UK, and if that has any effect on American and UK script writers or not.
text: I believe children are now being taught to write more conversationally, and contractions are not frowned on in written language as much as they used to be.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/3452/Adam Davis
score: 0

Summary of the answers:
It is possible that there is a difference in the level of usage of "don't" between the UK and the US, and there is data to suggest that Americans use it about twice as much as the British overall but that the British use "don't" about 2.9 times more frequently in speech than Americans. However, the differences are not big enough to be easily noticeable.
If examined the COCA regarding UK and US use of "don't" and "do not", the results show the UK speakers using "don't"  with 4.4.ratio-to-1 .The conclusion, it is that Americans overall use  "don’t"  about twice as frequently as the British, but the British use  "don’t" in speech about 2.9 times more frequently than Americans. These are, however, not big enough ratios to determine distinctive differences. So "don't" and "can't" is almost exclusively in normal conversation in the U.S. "Do not" and "cannot" are reserved for making special emphasis or dramatic effect. However, there seems to be a  degree of personal pride among British people in using contractions, although UK teenagers may not use "don't" frequently despite using IDK in text speech, as from anecdotal experience. It may be the educational experiences are different.
It is possible that there is a difference in the level of usage of "don't" between the UK and the US, and there is data to suggest that Americans use it about twice as much as the British overall but that the British use "don't" about 2.9 times more frequently in speech than Americans. However, the differences are not big enough to be easily noticeable.
Don't and can't are used as frequently in the US as the UK. 
It is generally considered that Americans use the word "don't" extensively.
It is generally believed that Americans use the contraction "don't" as often as British speakers.