Posted by Dafydd on September 18, 2004 at 13:39 [68.58.219.223]
In Reply to: Re: Laws against wearing diapers posted by alwayswet on September 18, 2004 at 10:37
I must respectfully disagree as regards "ain't." The word "ain't" is used by many people - I don't have the exact count, of course, but certainly very many people - and it is commonly understood to mean "to not be," viz: "I ain't going there" is understood to mean "I am not going there," for example.
"Ain't" has passed into the English language. There are certainly those who do not use the word, just as there are those who say "Are you awake?" rather than "Art thou wakeful?" "Ain't" is a word in the English language just as much as "Thou" is a word in that language. It may be present only in some dialects - I can't think of ever hearing someone from the UK saying "ain't," but it's there.
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