# What's so wrong with the word "ain't"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 19, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-wrong-with-the-word-aint/525577 "2010-01-19T17:10:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-wrong-with-the-word-aint/525577/41 "2010-01-20T18:49:32Z")
> [@](#): > > “Didn’t”, “couldn’t”, “wouldn’t”, and “shouldn’t”, make as unpleasant combinations of consonants as can well be uttered, and fall short but by one remove of those unutterable names of Polish gentlemen, which sometimes excite our wonder in the columns of a newspaper. I refuse to have my style dictated by people who find Polish names “unutterable”, even if they did write a century and a half ago. And calling them “wonderful” doesn’t alleviate it – that’s as ambiguous and euphemistic as calling them “interesting”. If he can’t pronounce such perfectly ordinary names as _Przybysz_, it’s because he ain’t trying. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-wrong-with-the-word-aint/525577/42 "2010-01-20T19:01:09Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > If he can’t pronounce such perfectly ordinary names as _Przybysz_, it’s because he ain’t trying. Or because he wasn’t born in Poland. I must confess that I wouldn’t know how to pronounce a name like that – but Serbian names can be even worse 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-wrong-with-the-word-aint/525577/43 "2010-01-21T05:56:46Z")
I teach 11-year-olds in an affluent district, and I’ve had MANY kids gasp outright if I say ain’t, for example when talking about forms of “to be.” Seriously, they act like I said “cocksucking motherfucker.” ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-wrong-with-the-word-aint/525577/44 "2010-01-21T06:16:36Z")
In the old days there was “proper English” and “dialect English.” We used to think nothing of mocking people who spoke with a dialect. And these people strove to improve their ability to speak properly. But along came what is called, for lack of a better term, “politcal correctness” or PC. The point of language is to transmit information from one person to another and make yourself understood and by this I mean clearly understood with no ambiguity. Eventually someone said “Why can’t I speak Ebonics” (We’ll use this as an example). My message gets through and I’m understood, except on the movie _Airplane_ “I’m Sorry, I don’t speak ‘Jive’.” Many African Americans thought it insulting to consider their dialect of English to be inferior. After all why was it? And again, I’m using Ebonics as an example, it can be anything or any ethnic group. So you used to have Formal, informal and dialect forms of talking. The word “ain’t” fell into this “inferior” level. If you used “ain’t” it meant you wern’t as classy. It’s like drinking out of your finger bowl or using your salad fork for meat. It works but that’s not what it was intended for. With PC we’ve moved away from labeling things as good or bad or inferior or superior. Especially with the English language. There is no “board” which monitors the language the way French has. To say one form of speech is better smacks of elitism. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-wrong-with-the-word-aint/525577/45 "2010-01-21T06:56:38Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > If he can’t pronounce such perfectly ordinary names as _Przybysz_, it’s because he ain’t trying. Perhaps, [like Bosnia](http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/hell/Bestof/vowels.html), Poland will qualify for some emergency aid. ---
**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:** [January 21, 2010, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-wrong-with-the-word-aint/525577/46 "2010-01-21T11:04:50Z")
With regard to “amn’t”, I recall as a child some parents chastises their children when they used it but it is still common enough. I don’t know if “ain’t” is used here in Ireland at all other than ironically. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-wrong-with-the-word-aint/525577/47 "2010-01-21T11:47:14Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > **What’s so wrong with the word “ain’t”?** > > Do you _really_ want your mother to pass out? What about your dear ol’ dad … do you want him to fall in a bucket of paint? And your sister? Should she start fibbing? Of course, it should go without saying that fratricide is abhorrent. You forgot about your pet canine needing to notify the Federal Bureau of Investigation by telephone. If that doesn’t upset the natural order of things, I don’t know what does. By the way, I have it on good authority that the proper contraction of “am not” is _aten’t_. And you may choose to argue with Esmerelda Weatherwax, but I’m going to get out of firing range if you do. ---
**Author:** ![Dandmb50](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ba9def/32.png) [@Dandmb50](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dandmb50)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-wrong-with-the-word-aint/525577/48 "2010-01-21T14:09:41Z")
The one that really bothers me is when people say “axe” for ask and have never understood why they say “axe”. Is there any reason for this and it always seems to be southern people. Is it because the teachers teach kids this from a young age? The other one that annoys me is of course the British always say " I have an (IDEAR) to put in a new addition) instead of “I have an idea to put in a new addition” and I’ve asked this before but no real answers. The last one is a french word that is often mispronounced, “FOYER” which is the entrance to a building or house it’s actually said as “FOYAY” “FOYEH” although I have heard it said a few times on the American TV stations correctly. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-wrong-with-the-word-aint/525577/49 "2010-01-21T15:01:34Z")
> [@Dandmb50](#): > > The one that really bothers me is when people say “axe” for ask and have never understood why they say “axe”. I’ve heard people say it in Chicago. This came up in a linguistics class as a phenomenon called Methathesis, discussed here: [Ask vs. Ax](http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19991216) Except in class it was discussed as more of a strange hiccup in the language centers of certain people than as a regional variant. And by my observation it varies by person. Those who say ‘axe’ don’t necessarily say ‘deks’ for ‘desk’ but some do. I knew a professor named Garstka, but most people called him Gartska – that transformation seemed to be universal among non-slavic English speakers. So, I posit that there is a spectrum of metathesis, from a ‘norm’ where you transform combinations that don’t normally appear in your language to a hypothetical severe case where you can’t remember to say ‘disk’ instead of ‘diks’. ---
**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:** [January 21, 2010, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-wrong-with-the-word-aint/525577/50 "2010-01-21T15:03:16Z")
> [@Dandmb50](#): > > The one that really bothers me is when people say “axe” for ask and have never understood why they say “axe”. Is there any reason for this and it always seems to be southern people. Is it because the teachers teach kids this from a young age? It’s more likely because they hear it from their families and their peers. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-wrong-with-the-word-aint/525577/51 "2010-01-21T19:22:48Z")
> [@Dandmb50](#): > > The other one that annoys me is of course the British always say " I have an (IDEAR) to put in a new addition) instead of “I have an idea to put in a new addition” and I’ve asked this before but no real answers. The sentence you gave isn’t a great example. British people don’t say “addition”, they say “extension”. The “r” sound usually intrudes when the next word begins with a vowel (e.g. “the idea(r) of it”). And to my ear it’s a rather odd sentence anyway; it seems unusual to say “I have an idea to [do something]”. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-wrong-with-the-word-aint/525577/52 "2010-01-21T19:52:35Z")
> [@Dandmb50](#): > > The other one that annoys me is of course the British always say " I have an (IDEAR) to put in a new addition) It’s called an “intrusive r” if you want to read up on it. And it would not occur in the sentence you have written (as **hibernicus** mentioned.) ---
**Author:** ![OccamsTaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3ec8ea/32.png) [@OccamsTaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OccamsTaser)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-wrong-with-the-word-aint/525577/53 "2010-01-22T00:41:46Z")
> [@Dandmb50](#): > > The one that really bothers me is when people say “axe” for ask and have never understood why they say “axe”. Is there any reason for this and it always seems to be southern people. I’m from Ohio, and now live in Atlanta, Georgia. I’ve heard axe used often in Ohio by African Americans, but never by whites. In Georgia, I’ve only heard it used by African Americans, but, I also don’t get much exposure to whites who would be demographically more-likely to use it (I live in yuppie suburbia). I’d imagine that a drive down to the southern peanut fields might turn up an axe here or there. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-wrong-with-the-word-aint/525577/54 "2010-01-22T09:42:10Z")
> [@](#): > > **Derleth** : …Style manual writers are merely putting their uninformed opinions in print. White (of Strunk and White) did a pretty good job with his “uninformed opinions.” Besides being an essayist for _The New Yorker_, he wrote **Stuart Little** and **Charlotte’s Web.** ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-wrong-with-the-word-aint/525577/55 "2010-01-22T10:01:15Z")
The so-called “intrusive r” is not so intrusive when it is part of your dialect and you are the President of the United States. Listen to some of Kennedy’s speeches sometime. He also said _idear_ and _Cuber_. I think it is one of the Boston dialects. It was distracting at first and then endearing. He spoke that way because the people in his family spoke that way. In my family we ate _arsh_ potatoes instead of Irish potatoes. I had no idea they were the same until I was almost grown. And my mother played the pie-ano or sometimes the panna. It is unnatural to speak in a dialect other than the one that you grew up with, but you can certainly learn. Some changes are harder than others. Never make the mistake of judging the intelligence of a person by the dialect she or he speaks. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-wrong-with-the-word-aint/525577/56 "2010-01-23T07:31:50Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > White (of Strunk and White) did a pretty good job with his “uninformed opinions.” Besides being an essayist for _The New Yorker_, he wrote **Stuart Little** and **Charlotte’s Web.** And many of his opinions cast grave aspersions of the usage of William Shakespeare, who did more for the language than either he or Strunk could ever have dreamed possible. Given the choice between the two, I go with the Immortal Bard over a pig in mud. ---
**Author:** ![cplif](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/48db29/32.png) [@cplif](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cplif)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-wrong-with-the-word-aint/525577/57 "2010-01-24T18:08:46Z")
Please permit two slightly offtopic remarks. One, living in France, I have followed the work of the “Académie Française” the official high authority on language. Besides their very solemn role of preserving the endangered (sic) french language, they mostly have a lot of fun with it, most of which is way over the head of the mortal man. Even the governement and administration(s) fail miserably to curtail, and actually try to impose their own rules. As usual people speak their minds with their own words, gaily. Two, by a quirk I just reread Russel Baker’s “Growing Up”, certainly worth a couple of hours enjoying words. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-wrong-with-the-word-aint/525577.md?page=2)