"Let (someone) alone"

[pne]

I was reading an article in the New York Times and came across the construction "[he] warned [someone] to let his sister alone".

That seemed odd; I can't recall having come across that construction before. I would have expected "to leave his sister alone", and thought at first that this was a mistake or something substandard. Yet according to the Columbia Guide to Standard American English,

leave me alone and let me alone are both Standard, and both mean either “Stop bothering me” or “Go away; I wish to be alone.”

Well. Learn something new every day!

Do you use "let me alone"? "leave me alone"? Both phrases equally? Do you make a difference between them (e.g. in meaning or register)?

Comments

[nik-w.livejournal.com]

As far as I'm aware, it's an American phrase - certainly I've only ever heard it used in American TV shows...

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

"Leave me alone" exclusively.

In grade school, we had a teacher who said "Leave me/him/her be!" which struck us all as a very odd usage. (She was local, but had some curious ruralisms like "crick" for creek and "dunkey" for donkey.) "Let me alone" sounds very odd, but "let him alone" doesn't, although it is less frequent.

[leora.livejournal.com]

I would generally say leave him/her/it alone.
I might say let it/him/her be.

I wouldn't think much of and even might say: leave her/him/it be.

I probably wouldn't say but wouldn't think much of let it/him/her alone although if called to my attention, it does seem a bit weird.

[tungol.livejournal.com]

I think I'd only say "leave me alone".

[noidd.livejournal.com]

I've heard "let her alone" numerous times on my travels.

[fweebles.livejournal.com]

Let me alone strikes me as a very old-fashioned and/or Southern US sort of thing.

[fledchen.livejournal.com]

"Leave him alone" and "leave him be" seem to be the most common in the places I've lived.

[nondescript.livejournal.com]

I use "leave me alone" almost exclusively. I rarely use "leave me be". I never use "let me alone".

[pthalo]

I use both, depending on with whom I'm speaking. I have a subconscious tendency to mimic other people's dialects in conversation, subtly, and let me alone and leave me alone are two phrases that I do use depending on the person. But how I know which to use without them using it first is beyond me.

[sovereigna.livejournal.com]

Leave. I've not heard "let me alone" anywhere other than tv, but I can't actually think of whether thats UK or US TV.