Discussion » Questions » Language » The word 'Ain't', are you for or against using it?
Benedict Arnold

The word 'Ain't', are you for or against using it?

Posted - January 15, 2017
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Responses


  • 17404
    Sometimes nothing fits quite like, "You ain't right!"  You're right, we use it in the South and assume we all know it's not proper but don't give a rat's glass.
      January 16, 2017 12:04 AM MST
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  • Yep, I use it unashamedly. :)
      January 16, 2017 12:16 AM MST
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  • Perhaps it ain't proper in a professional setting but among peers then hell yeah, ain't, cain't, y'all know what I mean.
      January 16, 2017 12:52 AM MST
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  • If Jeff Foxworthy says it then I believe it.  I love the way he describes "unconventional" words and how they're used.  It's the absolute truth.  Just like if went to, say Boston, I probably would feel like I'm in another country where English is not their first language.
      January 16, 2017 12:55 AM MST
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  • 17404
    I heard him once go through about 15 Southern combination words such as yantsum (you want some?).  We were in the car and we both wee weed a lilttle we laughed so hard. This post was edited by Thriftymaid at January 16, 2017 9:16 AM MST
      January 16, 2017 2:13 AM MST
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  • Those have me laughing so hard! 
      January 16, 2017 9:25 AM MST
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  • Exactly! I love when he does that routine. Every 'word' that he uses is a word I've either heard or used myself. 
      January 16, 2017 9:14 AM MST
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  • 17404
    Yes, this is what I was talking about.  On the cassette we were listening to while traveling he got started and must have gone a good 20 minutes.  He is a favorite.  Really he is the single person I listen to on media as stand up.  All of the others I've heard are vulgar and nasty.  Jeanne Robertson is really funny too.  I've heard her at a couple of functions as well as a few youtube vids........clean and hilarious.   The really creative and talented people don't have to use vulgarity,  sex, and genitals to get a laugh.

    I watched this one today.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YFRUSTiFUs This post was edited by Thriftymaid at January 17, 2017 4:17 AM MST
      January 16, 2017 7:34 PM MST
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  • She's great! I've watched her before and she nails it! As for the vulgar ones, I love George Carlin and Richard Pryor. The cussed a lot, but they were different than the ones today. They KNEW how to cuss and made it an art form. The ones today don't do that, they cuss just to be cussing and really aren't that funny. 
      January 17, 2017 4:19 AM MST
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  • I like all words, they are the flavors of a culture, a people. A meter with which to measure a changing culture. Words come and go. I think of language purists as annoyingly anal retentive and rigidly boring.
      January 16, 2017 4:20 AM MST
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  • Right! Language is always changing. 
      January 16, 2017 9:15 AM MST
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  • 19942
    Not a word I use myself, but "artistically" or colloquially, it's accepted. 
      January 16, 2017 9:03 AM MST
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  • It's part of the Southern lexicon. :)
      January 16, 2017 9:16 AM MST
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  • 19942
    Understood, but I live in the Northeast. :)
      January 16, 2017 9:20 AM MST
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  • Yeah, I can't imagine it would be used much there. :)
      January 16, 2017 9:26 AM MST
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  • 19942
    It's used up here, but mostly by the less educated.
      January 16, 2017 9:30 AM MST
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  • It's used here by people from all education levels.
      January 16, 2017 9:34 AM MST
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  • 19942
    Then it comes under the category of colloquialism.
      January 16, 2017 10:18 AM MST
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