When I was a lad, we weren't allowed to have shoulder-length hair at school. The headteacher cut...

[hedgy]

There is the following sentence from a reading:

When I was a lad, we weren't allowed to have shoulder-length hair at school. The headteacher cut it off in his office if we did, without so much as a phone call home.

I do not understand "did". In my opinion it refers to "have shoulder-length hair at school" but I would have used: had.

When I was a lad, we weren't allowed to have shoulder-length hair at school. The headteacher cut it off in his office if we had, without so much as a phone call home.

What do you think?

Cheers

 

[Keith Bradford]

Both are possible, meaning respectively: if we did have shoulder-length hair and if we had shoulder-length hair. The did version is more emphatic.

 

[Corrado Prizzi]

Did is the proper past tense auxiliary verb here.

- We had fish and chips.
- Did you? We didn't. We had pie and mash.

 

[sound shift]

I'd say "did" here, because the "to have" in the first sentence is a full verb, not an auxiliary.