For my own sake, I once had to check that “ain’t” was a
proper word, thinking I discovered a blind spot in my ability to speak and
write. I’m still not sure - even when typing that last sentence, Microsoft Word
thought I wanted to say “isn’t,” “aren’t,” or “am not” instead.
“Ain’t” first appeared in the mid-eighteenth century as a
development of “an’t,” itself a contraction of “am not,” or “is not,” with the
original “amn’t,” having appeared in around 1610. It is a simple case of words blending
over time, with “aren’t” also popping up in about 1675, before “ain’t” became
an alternative for that word too. Like the verb “to be not,” “ain’t” can also
mean “to have not,” but it took until the nineteenth century for “han’t” to become
“an’t,” before the vowel was rounded out in different parts of the country.
Having asked around, there appears to be an active dislike
of the “aaaaaiiiiiinnnnn’” sound of “ain’t,” with one person reacting like I
had threatened to hit them. With the idea of a standard English dialect, devoid
of regional differences, being spread by the introduction of regular radio
broadcasts in the 1920s, perhaps the sounds of some words no longer fit how
English was expected to sound.
Having a word that so easily replaces others also gives the
impression it is too easy to use when speaking informally, leading to a
generally accepted rule that “ain’t” ain’t to be written down. The website oxforddictionaries.com
advises “ain’t” is not to be used in a formal or written context precisely
because “it does not form part of standard English” – well, punctuating
sentences with swear words is not standard English, and I know what reaction I
would get if I said that to someone.
However, as someone who used “knackered” in a secondary
school writing exercise over twenty years ago, describing a particular kind of
tiredness, only to see a red line put through it, and “tired?” written above
it, “ain’t” can be shown to be the perfect choice of word, without resorting to
dredging up examples of when Charles Dickens and Anthony Trollope used it.
Taking oxforddictionaries.com at their word, are song lyrics
not an example of formal writing? Using lyrics as titles for my articles here
meant that, this time around, I was spoilt for choice – instead of a Stevie
Wonder song, I could have chosen “Ain’t Nobody,” “Ain’t That a Shame,” “It
Ain’t Necessarily So,” or even “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s my Brother.” No-one would
ever criticise these songs of sloppy diction, in an art form where choosing the
right word is as crucial as hitting the right notes, as the single syllable of
“ain’t” can be used to provide a powerful punch.
Following this reasoning, formal writing cannot deploy
language in as strong a fashion as a song, due to the rules we insist on
imposing. Daring to correct the chorus to “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” will
only dilute the impact of its carefully chosen words – or, if you like, it
becomes knackered.
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