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Is The Word `Aint` Naughty?

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I have a three year old daughter who goes to a playgroup. She came home today with a Chinese dragon that she`d made and as I was admiring it (Pulling it to pieces and telling her it was a shoddy, badly made effort) she said `Its Chinese, aint it?`

 

Now I had something new to pick at her for, I dropped the dragon into the bin and informed her that the word "aint" isnt a good word to use.

 

I told her to use the word "Int" instead.

 

 

heh

 

No, seriously I said "Isnt" is better than Aint.

 

Her mother, (may god rust her fillings like the outer shell of a 1974 Datsun) then informed ME that Aint is a perfectly reasonable word to use in the 21st Century, everybody in Leicestershire uses it and not only am I a hypocrite for telling her off, I was also a foul pig with the breath of a spider monkey with a foot licking fetish and I should "Let the English language evolve without trying to bring 1950s grammar lessons into a little kids life!"

 

 

Now, anyone whoes read so much as a sentance of anything Ive ever typed or written will know that my command of the English language is around the same educational level as a moles but I would rather like my offspring to not only take over the world, but to actually be able to speak and write properly about it.

 

I asked my OH what she meant by letting the English language evolve and she said that all this slang is a natural part of the language, none of it is bad and none of it is good, its all part of the rich tapestry of the language...

 

 

Sickening, isnt it...?

 

I know several teenagers who call their home their "Yard" and call money "Dollar"... If thats evolution then Darwin was wrong, evolution DOES go backwards.

 

 

So,my little nostril miners, is Aint a bad word? Should we allow the language to "Evolve" or should we start putting the boot into people who say "innit" and generally tear the language to bits...?

 

Discuss or I`ll come round yer yard n nick all yer dollar innit!

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It worked for Lenny Kravits in his it aint over till it's over,i haven't got a chinese dragon just the plain old English one that's just cooked me tea.

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I annoy young people by saying 'isn't it though?' after many a sentence.

 

'Isn't it though' is posh, 'Innit' isn't and 'ain't it' is frightfully vulgar.

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You should encourage your daughter to know and use the correct language whilst she is young. 'Aint' grates and has set my teeth on edge just thinking about it ! :D

 

Once she's older she will no doubt resort to the use of slang - peer pressure and all that, but at least she will know what she ought to be saying.

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I'd say 'aint' was a regression rather than an evolution. IIRC all classes used it during the Regency, for example, and it gradually fell into disuse in this country being replaced with 'isn't'. This is why a lot of Americans say 'aint', they've retained a lot of the old usages of the English language. As indeed have we Northern English.

 

One thing I do find puzzling is why do Sheffield teens use 'innit' when we already had the perfectly usable 'intit'? :huh:

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I get told off all the time for using the word "Int" here because no one has a clue what I mean!

 

`It int`

 

 

and

 

`Int it`

 

 

are more than enough to get me glared at.

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I'd say 'aint' was a regression rather than an evolution. IIRC all classes used it during the Regency, for example, and it gradually fell into disuse in this country being replaced with 'isn't'. This is why a lot of Americans say 'aint', they've retained a lot of the old usages of the English language. As indeed have we Northern English.

 

One thing I do find puzzling is why do Sheffield teens use 'innit' when we already had the perfectly usable 'intit'? :huh:

 

Because 'innit' comes from US rap culture and is therefore hard and cool.

 

'Intit' comes from Yorkshire old man culture and is therefore (as the kids'll see it) uncool.

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I annoy young people by saying 'isn't it though?' after many a sentence. 'Isn't it though' is posh, 'Innit' isn't and 'ain't it' is frightfully vulgar.
Do you think that because Alex Armstrong is terribly posh irl, and he says it in his 'chav' sketches with the airmen? Random! :D

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Do you think that because Alex Armstrong is terribly posh irl, and he says it in his 'chav' sketches with the airmen? Random! :D

 

You're like, well right Ruby. Isn't it though?

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Because 'innit' comes from US rap culture and is therefore hard and cool..
I don't agree ... but I don't feel free to tell you why on here. :D

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Aint it got more uses than just for Isn't, yes it does I just looked it up.

 

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ain't

 

ain't

(dialectal or informal) are not, aren’t; is not, isn’t; am not.

(dialectal, informal) have not, haven’t; has not, hasn’t.

(dialectal, informal) do not, don’t; does not, doesn’t; did not, didn’t.

 

How many people have said at least once in their lives "You aint seen nothing yet".

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