# Regionalisms: idn't, dudn't, wudn't **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 21, 2011, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-idnt-dudnt-wudnt/597076 "2011-09-21T16:14:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-idnt-dudnt-wudnt/597076/1 "2011-09-21T16:14:02Z")
That’s _isn’t, doesn’t, wasn’t_ as I’ve heard them pronounced by people from Kansas, Arkansas, and Wyoming. The “s” is missing. Actually, they sound more like idden, dudden, and wudden now that I think about it. Is this sort of pronunciation common to those states or to a larger region? Just curious. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-idnt-dudnt-wudnt/597076/2 "2011-09-21T16:23:04Z")
You mean _ain’t_, _don’t_ and _weren’t_" 😃 Yeah, I’m from Arkansas, and I talk like that if I don’t watch myself. I think it’s definitely something that’s not necessarily just a southern/midwestern/great plains accent, but perhaps just kind of American Informal, for lack of a better term. My WAG is that it’s rooted in the Scotch-Irish Appalachian thing that migrated westward, but I could easily be wrong about that. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-idnt-dudnt-wudnt/597076/3 "2011-09-21T18:28:13Z")
> [@An\_Arky](#): > > Yeah, I’m from Arkansas, and I talk like that if I don’t watch myself. We’s fixing, to get ready, to go to the house. It’s a fur piece down the road. You’ins stop by if’n you can. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-idnt-dudnt-wudnt/597076/4 "2011-09-21T18:31:51Z")
I can vouch for the same version(s) in Alabama and Tennessee. Also, “business” is either “bidness” or “binness.” How many know about a Far Tar? ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-idnt-dudnt-wudnt/597076/5 "2011-09-21T18:32:37Z")
Shit, there should not be a ‘g’ on the end of fixin. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-idnt-dudnt-wudnt/597076/6 "2011-09-21T18:35:10Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > Shit, there should not be a ‘g’ on the end of fixin. Yankee. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-idnt-dudnt-wudnt/597076/7 "2011-09-21T18:40:09Z")
In New York we miss a few ‘s’ too. I-nt (ain’t works in a pinch), don’t (as in "no it don’t) and wa’-int. Funny, New Yorkers don’t have the time to enunciate all the letters but have plenty of time to insert extra syllables. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-idnt-dudnt-wudnt/597076/8 "2011-09-21T18:41:22Z")
I learned talking in Alabama, and I say idn’t, dudn’t, wudn’t about half the time. Since we’re on the Dope, and it’s a welcome place for being pedantic, [Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com) tells me that it’s the substitution of a stop consonant for a sibilant in anticipation of the ‘articulatory posture of the tongue for the ‘n’ sound.’ In other words, we’re lazy. ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-idnt-dudnt-wudnt/597076/9 "2011-09-21T18:43:55Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > Shit, there should not be a ‘g’ on the end of fixin. Shouldn’t that be fitsin’? Or is that a different region? Do any people but native Chicagoans go ‘by’ somebody’s house when they visit them? As in, “I’m going by Mary’s”, or “I went by Mary’s yesterday.” ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-idnt-dudnt-wudnt/597076/10 "2011-09-21T18:48:33Z")
> [@thirdwarning](#): > > Shouldn’t that be fitsin’? Or is that a different region? or “finna” ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-idnt-dudnt-wudnt/597076/11 "2011-09-21T18:51:28Z")
> [@thirdwarning](#): > > Shouldn’t that be fitsin’? Or is that a different region? > > Do any people but native Chicagoans go ‘by’ somebody’s house when they visit them? As in, “I’m going by Mary’s”, or “I went by Mary’s yesterday.” Sure, absolutely. I hear that out West (Oregon) all the time. Not exclusively, of course, but I use it myself, I hear other people use it, and it sounds normal enough to me. ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-idnt-dudnt-wudnt/597076/12 "2011-09-21T19:07:15Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > Sure, absolutely. I hear that out West (Oregon) all the time. Not exclusively, of course, but I use it myself, I hear other people use it, and it sounds normal enough to me. I wonder if it’s one of those things like ‘soda’ and ‘pop’. It threw me off when I first heard it. I pictured him going past the house, but then talked about going home from there later. I was very confused for a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-idnt-dudnt-wudnt/597076/13 "2011-09-21T19:18:53Z")
I’m from Pennsylvania and while it wasn’t (wudn’t) the _norm_ to talk that way, I’ve heard it a few times and probably done it a few times myself. Usually in very casual speech where I’m not making any particular effort to pronounce my words correctly. Now that I live near Warshington, I don’t do it any more :D. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-idnt-dudnt-wudnt/597076/14 "2011-09-21T19:33:26Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > Sure, absolutely. I hear that out West (Oregon) all the time. Not exclusively, of course, but I use it myself, I hear other people use it, and it sounds normal enough to me. Well, both my parents came from NW Arkansas, then moved to Oregon. So I got the best of both worlds. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-idnt-dudnt-wudnt/597076/15 "2011-09-22T04:55:55Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > I can vouch for the same version(s) in Alabama and Tennessee. > > Also, “business” is either “bidness” or “binness.” > > How many know about a Far Tar? What? ---
**Author:** ![randomface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@randomface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randomface)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-idnt-dudnt-wudnt/597076/16 "2011-09-22T14:10:27Z")
I once saw a sign for a furniture store that said “Goinging out of Busines Sale” in Alma, AR. ---
**Author:** ![Teufelblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@Teufelblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teufelblitz)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-idnt-dudnt-wudnt/597076/17 "2011-09-22T14:26:31Z")
Regions should always be sure to have regular vowel movements, otherwise they get consonated. ---
**Author:** ![JuliaSqueezer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/82dd89/32.png) [@JuliaSqueezer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JuliaSqueezer)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-idnt-dudnt-wudnt/597076/18 "2011-09-22T14:53:02Z")
Sign in the Detroit Bus Terminal (years ago) over the rack of books and magazines: “No Loitering! This is NOT a liberry!” ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-idnt-dudnt-wudnt/597076/19 "2011-09-22T15:20:28Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > What? Fire tower. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-idnt-dudnt-wudnt/597076/20 "2011-09-22T22:01:02Z")
Idn’t, dudn’t and wudn’t are common in Texas as well. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-idnt-dudnt-wudnt/597076.md?page=2)