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It appears to me that the construction "just because… doesn't mean…" isn't used in literature at all. Is its use limited to colloquial speech and informal writing?

Note that while some people seem to be up in arms about this construction, I am not jumping on that bandwagon. I rather side with sober analysis [PDF] than with angry Reddit rants. So, basically, I'm just looking for a quote by Poe or Twain, though I suspect the construction is younger (is it?).

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up vote 1 down vote accepted

I found nothing from Twain or Poe. However, google can help you find usage of this phrase in books sorted by date.

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I’ve just discovered the wonderful Corpus of Historical American English, and you, dear reader, get see the first fruits of my research there:

Date: 1942
Publication information: Doubleday & Company, Inc. 1970
Title: Along the Street
Author: Struthers Burt

"Just because I've had everything done for me doesn't mean I can't get along without lots of things I've been used to. The only thing I can't face doing without is you. We can manage with what I have. I know we can."

A similar construction from 1914:

Date: 1914
Title: On With Torchy
Author: Ford, Sewell, 1868-1946


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So, once in dialogue, and once in clearly colloquial prose. – TRiG May 25 '11 at 12:25

The NOAD reports an example of sentence using just because, and doesn't mean.

because /bəˈkɔz/ /biˈkɔz/
for the reason that; since: we did it because we felt it our duty | just because I'm inexperienced doesn't mean that I lack perception.

Simply replacing just because with since would change the sentence to

(*) Since I'm inexperienced doesn't mean that I lack perception.

NOAD reports when a phrase is informal, and it doesn't do it with that sentence.

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The use of "since" in that second example doesn't sound right to me. I'd be more inclined to say, "My inexperience doesn't mean that I lack perception". – Steve Melnikoff Aug 20 '10 at 14:08
I tend to agree with Steve. Another nice way would be to replace "just because" with "the fact that": "The fact that I'm inexperienced doesn't mean that I lack perception" – Jonik Aug 20 '10 at 14:33
Or "simply because" would also be more formal. – Kosmonaut Aug 20 '10 at 16:01
More specifically, ? means it is awkward/marginal at best, and * means it is definitely ungrammatical. (This is the standard used in linguistics anyway.) – Kosmonaut Aug 20 '10 at 18:39
@Jonik, The fact that ... is clearly the most "logical" way to say this, if we think that language should be logical. – TRiG May 25 '11 at 12:27

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