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16-May-2008, 18:47
|  | Moderator | | Join Date: Oct 2006 Country: UK
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Current Location: UK Native Language: English Member Type: Other | |  Re: ain't, slang
And of course in the early nineteenth century, you will find "ain't/an't" used in informal letter writing. Even Jane Austen used it. |
16-May-2008, 19:31
|  | Moderator | | Join Date: Feb 2003 Country: USA
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Current Location: North Carolina Native Language: English Member Type: Other | | Re: ain't, slang
The word "ain't" has been used in English for centuries.
~R |
16-May-2008, 19:34
|  | Key Member | | Join Date: Mar 2008 Country: Poland
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Current Location: the UK Native Language: Polish Member Type: Academic | | Re: ain't, slang
Quote:
Originally Posted by RonBee  The word "ain't" has been used in English for centuries.
~R | So what happened in the meantime that it started being seen as incorrect? Or perhaps I should ask when it happened?  |
16-May-2008, 19:35
| | Moderator | | Join Date: Oct 2006 Country: UK
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Current Location: UK Native Language: English Member Type: Other | | Re: ain't, slang
Sorry, Ron - I am gobsmacked by that comment! |
16-May-2008, 20:09
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Current Location: North Carolina Native Language: English Member Type: Other | | Re: ain't, slang
Quote:
Originally Posted by banderas So what happened in the meantime that it started being seen as incorrect? Or perhaps I should ask when it happened? | Why say it is incorrect? It is the way some people speak. Some people (prescriptivists) have decided that "ain't" ain't English, but it is. It is just not standard English (the prestige language).
Some possible uses of ain't: I ain't going.
I ain't gonna vote for him.
That ain't right.
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16-May-2008, 20:45
| | Key Member | | Join Date: Mar 2008 Country: Poland
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Current Location: the UK Native Language: Polish Member Type: Academic | | Re: ain't, slang
Quote:
Originally Posted by Anglika Some people may well feel it makes them cool, or do it in order to rebel against authority. There is a great difference between doing it deliberately while knowing it is incorrect and speaking in the way that your peers and social group speak. | Quote:
Originally Posted by RonBee Why say it is incorrect? It is the way some people speak. Some people (prescriptivists) have decided that "ain't" ain't English, but it is. It is just not standard English (the prestige language). | Do you think that in, say, 100 years "ain't" and "double negation" will have their place in grammar books? |
16-May-2008, 20:58
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Current Location: England (South East) Native Language: English Member Type: English Teacher | | Re: ain't, slang
Quote:
Originally Posted by RonBee The word "ain't" has been used in English for centuries.
~R | Indeed. I wasn't suggesting it was 'an Americanism' (whatever that is), just that it was a useful simplifying trait that might conveniently be adopted by immigrants to a melting pot who needed to establish a common language with other non-native speakers. 
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16-May-2008, 21:05
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Current Location: North Carolina Native Language: English Member Type: Other | | Re: ain't, slang
Quote:
Originally Posted by banderas Do you think that in, say, 100 years "ain't" and "double negation" will have their place in grammar books? | Maybe. Who can tell? |
16-May-2008, 21:07
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Current Location: North Carolina Native Language: English Member Type: Other | | Re: ain't, slang
Quote:
Originally Posted by Anglika Sorry, Ron - I am gobsmacked by that comment! | I learned a new word. And ain't that a good thing? |
17-May-2008, 10:24
| | Moderator | | Join Date: Jul 2006 Country: England (South East)
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Current Location: England (South East) Native Language: English Member Type: English Teacher | | Re: ain't, slang
Quote:
Originally Posted by RonBee I learned a new word. And ain't that a good thing? | And here's another: 
Dumbstruck=gobsmacked; there's a very expressive idiom to express great surprise - "Well, I'll go to the foot of our stairs" (probably just Br English, maybe Northern).
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