# Is the contraction "amn't" used anywhere but Ireland? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 9, 2008, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-contraction-amnt-used-anywhere-but-ireland/444547 "2008-04-09T01:10:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-contraction-amnt-used-anywhere-but-ireland/444547/1 "2008-04-09T01:10:37Z")
The title says it all. “I amn’t doing that”, “I’m a great guy, amn’t I?” etc. are common enough around these parts. Is this contraction used elsewhere? ---
**Author:** ![bigdfrombigd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df705f/32.png) [@bigdfrombigd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bigdfrombigd)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-contraction-amnt-used-anywhere-but-ireland/444547/2 "2008-04-09T01:26:27Z")
I am pretty sure y’all are the only ones who use that particular word. I lived there for twelve years and never got used to hearing it! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-contraction-amnt-used-anywhere-but-ireland/444547/3 "2008-04-09T01:34:09Z")
I can’t even say that without spraining my upper lip. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-contraction-amnt-used-anywhere-but-ireland/444547/4 "2008-04-09T01:34:25Z")
I remember my great-aunt using it. She was Australian born, but with an Irish family background. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-contraction-amnt-used-anywhere-but-ireland/444547/5 "2008-04-09T01:45:00Z")
I’ve heard it a few times in the midwest US. Specifically in areas with folks of dutch ancestry. That and “mayn’t” ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-contraction-amnt-used-anywhere-but-ireland/444547/6 "2008-04-09T03:26:52Z")
We’ve got patches of Scots-Irish and German ancestry in my neck of the woods where I come from in NE Texas, and I know I recognized the “Amn’t” contraction when I saw it. And I’m pretty sure we have some Dutch as well. [[http://130.166.124.2/USpage1.html](http://130.166.124.2/USpage1.html)]Digital Atlas of the US, from a professor at CSUN. That uses the 1990 census, and may not be completely accurate, but the red circles on the Texas portion of the map look right to me – tons of Scots-Irish, Dutch, and German. (wow. if you look at the percent German ancestry, the north central part of the US pretty much is a checkerboard covered in regular red dots) ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-contraction-amnt-used-anywhere-but-ireland/444547/7 "2008-04-09T03:32:40Z")
I remember flatly insisting, at the age of three or four, that amen’t _was too_ a real word, although my mother gently explained several times that it wasn’t a word that other people used. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-contraction-amnt-used-anywhere-but-ireland/444547/8 "2008-04-09T03:34:36Z")
My brother and I used it for several years, to be silly. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-contraction-amnt-used-anywhere-but-ireland/444547/9 "2008-04-09T10:46:37Z")
I have never heard it. PA, USA. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-contraction-amnt-used-anywhere-but-ireland/444547/10 "2008-04-09T10:54:44Z")
It was quite common here when I was growing up (60s & 70s) and I still hear it, and use it, occassionally. I don’t hear it as much as I used to, though. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-contraction-amnt-used-anywhere-but-ireland/444547/11 "2008-04-09T13:25:49Z")
Not uncommon in early Modern English. Here’s a few cites from OED which show the progression from amn’t to an’t and eventually to ain’t. \*1691 Athenian Gaz. 11 May, If I amn’t mistaken, the pinch is here. 1701 G. FARQUHAR Sir Harry Wildair IV. ii. 34, I an’t to be believ’d. 1828 E, BULWER-LYTTON Pelham II. xxv. 260 A’n’t we behind hand?\* ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-contraction-amnt-used-anywhere-but-ireland/444547/12 "2008-04-09T14:42:28Z")
I have never heard it. What does it sound like? “A-munt”? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-contraction-amnt-used-anywhere-but-ireland/444547/13 "2008-04-09T15:01:38Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] I have never heard it. What does it sound like? “A-munt”? [/QUOTE] I would have guessed it sounded like “amt.” ---
**Author:** ![Gus\_Gusterson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@Gus\_Gusterson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Gusterson)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-contraction-amnt-used-anywhere-but-ireland/444547/14 "2008-04-09T15:09:59Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] I have never heard it. What does it sound like? “A-munt”? [/QUOTE] AM-int. Like “aren’t” except “am” instead of “are” for the first syllable. Edit: Assuming you pronounce “aren’t” in two syllables. I’m sure not everyone does that. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-contraction-amnt-used-anywhere-but-ireland/444547/15 "2008-04-09T19:19:34Z")
“Ah-mint”. It just occurred to me the other day that I’ve never heard an American or other English native speaker use it. I use it all the time. I pronounce “aren’t” one or two syllables, depending. ---
**Author:** ![Iggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Iggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggins)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-contraction-amnt-used-anywhere-but-ireland/444547/16 "2008-04-09T22:26:14Z")
I’ve never heard it on the West Coast (OR, WA, ID, MT, WY, CA, NV). ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2008, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-contraction-amnt-used-anywhere-but-ireland/444547/17 "2008-04-10T00:33:55Z")
Lots of people say it!!! They just pronounce it funny: “ain’t” Yes, [that’s the derivation.](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ain't) ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2008, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-contraction-amnt-used-anywhere-but-ireland/444547/18 "2008-04-10T00:42:38Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq] Lots of people say it!!! They just pronounce it funny: “ain’t” Yes, [that’s the derivation.](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ain't) [/QUOTE] I take major offence at that article, as a resident of south-east England where the local dialect most certainly does retain ‘ain’t’! And ‘innit’ for ‘isn’t it’, and ‘do-it’ for ‘does it’. And so on. (Edit: and not the same ‘innit’ as Estuary English, either.) ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2008, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-contraction-amnt-used-anywhere-but-ireland/444547/19 "2008-04-10T09:12:23Z")
Thet hint how we d’say 'er up here, bor. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2008, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-contraction-amnt-used-anywhere-but-ireland/444547/20 "2008-04-10T13:57:01Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] I take major offence at that article, as a resident of south-east England where the local dialect most certainly does retain ‘ain’t’! And ‘innit’ for ‘isn’t it’, and ‘do-it’ for ‘does it’. And so on. (Edit: and not the same ‘innit’ as Estuary English, either.) [/QUOTE] What exactly is offensive about it? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-contraction-amnt-used-anywhere-but-ireland/444547.md?page=2)