Ain’t

Marina Orlova (Russian: Марина Орлова) (born 10 December 1980) is a Russian philologist, etymologist, and author who has become an Internet celebrity, hosting one of the most popular channels on YouTube, HotForWords, and a corresponding website. She also hosts a bi-weekly radio show on Maxim Radio on Sirius Satellite Radio.

Today we have another video request.
– Hey, HotForWords. My name’s Ambrilyn. And I’m from Alabama.
I was wandering if you could possibly tell me:
-Where the word “ain’t” came from?
Ambrilyn wanted to know where the word “ain’t” came from.
And since I ain’t an expert on this word HotForWords must investigate.
Now, what I’m about to tell you will come as a bit of a surprise.
“Ain’t” is a contraction or shortening of “are not” and “am not”.
Now it was actually proper English around 1778 in England and was used by the upper class as well as all classes.
But then around the 19th century popularized by Cockney speech and Charles Dickens people started using “ain’t” improperly for “is not”, “have not” and “has not”.
And the British got so upset that they banned the word altogether in proper English usage while words like “don’t” and “won’t” remained proper.
So, “I ain’t” is correct, “they ain’t” is correct, “she ain’t” is incorrect and “they ain’t done it yet” is also incorrect.
I say we all start using “ain’t” correctly and perhaps we can make the word proper again.
There we go, another mystery solved by your trusty HotForWords.
For your homework: do you often use the word “ain’t”?
If so, please write your answer in the comments below.
I’ll see you all very soon.
Bye-bye my students.
Be good.
P.S. So ain’t “ain’t” so bad after all? Hold on second: did I use it right? Hmmm …