Where does AIN'T come from and is it bad English?

If you think AIN'T is bad English well it ain't necessarily so. In this video you will learn the history of AIN'T and when it's OK to use it in neutral and formal English.

#historyofenglish
#aint

[mattiasblomqvist]

Some 37 years ago in a suburb close to Stockholm I was forced by my english teacher to leave the classroom. I had made a bold attempt claiming that "ain't" indeed did exist in the English vocabulary by citing a text that I had read so many times from record labels in my brothers 7 inch singles collection: "If it ain't Stiff it ain't worth a f**ck". I probably should've chosen something less controversial like "He ain't heavy (he's my brother)" or something but well... I was 13 and that's just not the way it went. This video had me remember that episode of my life and somehow I felt a bit redeemed in knowing that I wasn't completely wrong so thank you, sir. (And sorry old teacher. I was unreasonable back then. But then again so we're you.)

[mzmscoyote]

When my grandmother said “I’m not going to do that” we knew we might change her mind, but if she said “I ain’ta gonna do it.” we knew that Hell would freeze over before she would do it.

[thetowndrunk]

Growing up in the southern U.S., everybody used ain’t all the time, including all of the English teachers that scolded us, and said it wasn’t a word….

[EamonJeffers]

I'm 72, Londoner, and I still say amn't. Always have done, can't help it, sounds natural. Mind you, my parents were Irish.

[jomerrell]

I absolutely LOVE this video. Thank you so much. As a born Canadian who grew up in France and Great Britain and then went to school in Canada I was raised in 'knuckle whipping' 'proper' language lessons but 52 years ago moved to the southern US and fell in love with the word 'ain't'. I don't think of it as a word but as an expression, almost a sentiment. It's my favorite word in the english language.

[BubuMarimba]

Ain't no river wide enough
Ain't no water deep enough
Ain't no mountain high enough
(To keep me from you, Gideon!)

[lpanzieri]

Big "like" for mentioning the register. We non-native speakers often sound too formal because we're taught a formal English.

[petermintunmusic]

Dude, you have won me over! I love your style, your wit, and the substance of your discussion. This is the best use of the Internet.

[Revolver]

US rural southerner here and I grew up with “ain’t” and there ain’t no two ways about it. “Amn’t” is new to me.

[LenTexDIY]

There's just something so "comforting" about "Ain't" to me sometimes. Great video! Thank you!

[HermitCrone]

I grew up in East Tennessee, where saying ain’t is common parlance. That area was settled by Scottish, and English in the 1600s and 1700s. It has been said that we speak most similarly to the Old English.

Thank you for this informative video, and would love to see one on the similarities of the Southern Appalachian speech and Old English language.

[wannabeanamerican]

" "'ain't" is bad English" they say. Meanwhile, "aren't I?" as a tag question is completely correct. Fair enough, huh?
Thanks for the video, it explains really important topic. For me "ain't" is one of the most interesting word in English, as it officially doesn't exist, despite the fact that it's used a lot, I mean A LOT, by various people with various backgrounds.

[Tee-ina-Skee-Mask]

"dont say aint, your mother will faint, your father will fall in a bucket of paint" i forget the rest but that title instantly brought that back to me

[Muggins]

Another good example of this sort of thing is ‘y’all.’ Since I started learning Latin and started realising how useful a plural second person is, I find myself using y’all a lot more.

[carolina]

I ain't seen a better video all day. Well done and thank you, Gideon!

[stephanecollart]

"It's not *me* you're looking for", since "me" is the object of the sentence, hence in the accusative case. To say "It's not 'I'" grates on the ears.

[HektorBandimar]

Yes, I'm from southern England and ain't is nearly always used by working class folk, perhaps these days a middle class person might use it in a casual way, but it is still a class thing in the southern counties.

[nevermindthees]

Gideon, not only are you a scholarly linguist but a discerning music expert and literary critic. I fully agree with you on Bob Dylan (nobel prize winner). Arts and art, it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.

[coyote.redfire]

Love this! Wish my grandma were still alive so I could share this with her...she charged us grandkids 25 cents each time we used "ain't" in a sentence 😂

[VesaGuardian]

I´m from Finland and we have two languages, Finnish and Swedish. In Swedish we have a word "inte", that works just like "ain't". Surprisingly they more or less sound the same and mean the same. In my honest view this is the same thing going on and probably brought to English from Scandinavian languages.