Comments on: What’s Wrong with “Ain’t”

By: Garbeld

Garbeld — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 23:47:49 +0000

@ibooklover123:
I wouldn’t say that “ain’t” is the gateway slang word, but that the issue of improper grammar is the result of a far more fundamental problem of people not bothering to learn and understand the language they use on a rational level, instead being content to rely on our human faculties of pattern recognition to pick up on the way language is COMMONLY used.

Also, what is wrong with double negatives? They may be redundant, but there is no inherent logical error or risk of ambiguity in them that comes immediately to my mind.

By: Tiago Vilaça

Tiago Vilaça — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:13:39 +0000

Hi there,

I feel like apologizing. Booklover is right when he states that the correct idea for ‘I ain’t got no choice’ is ‘I HAVE no choice’. Although, it doesn’t really matter. My point was about the repeated information which is unnecessary in English. We don’t say ‘He doesn’t knows’ nor ‘I did slept’. Once is enough.

My intention is just to highlight the fact that we use it intentionally in order to be more emphatic. Don’t you agree? Double negatives are taught as beeing wrong and that’s exactly the reason why we use it so often: just to have someone’s attention.

Dave, I’m really sorry to ask you such a dumb question, but I can’t help it: Why did my sentence baffle you? Is it that bad?
Or am I beeing naive once more?
I’m more confused now.

After all, you guys are saying that it is Ok to use it or not?
The matter is relevant or not?
Are we gonna get anywhere here?

I’m sorry if I caused more confusion. I just think it’s ok depending on the situation. Lots of expressions we use daily are ‘wrong’ according to grammar. We choose to use them to shape our speech with the exact level of emphasis ( now I’m afraid of using this word) we intent. Don’t we?

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:56:18 +0000

Booklover: I thought they were being facetious. I think, also, by saying, “grammar is not the matter,” they meant, “many sentences which include ‘ain’t’ would still be grammatically incorrect without it.” That is what I gleaned from their examples, anyway. The statement, “I assume it is a matter of emphasis,” baffles me, but not to the degree which “freshness” baffles me in toilet tissue commercials. At any rate, if it’s only a gateway to satanism with a small “s”, sounds like a party to me.

By: ibooklover123

ibooklover123 — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 07:17:06 +0000

I have a problem with the last post that represents my main problem with the word “ain’t” in common usage.

In the translation “I ain’t got no choice” the poster claims that it really means “I got no choice” but really it means “I have no choice”

The whole ain’t thing is like a gateway slang word into a world of double negatives and improper tenses and satanism.

By: T. Vilaça

T. Vilaça — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:37:12 +0000

I ain’t got nothing else to add but a little detail:

“Ain’t” may sound really bad for some listeners when it comes to redundancy:

I ain’t got nothing = I got nothing.
I ain’t got no choice = I got no choice.

We don’t say ‘I didn’t do nothing’ or ‘I did anything’.
But with ‘ain’t', oddly enough, we do.

Grammar is not the matter.
I assume it is a matter of emphasis.

So, I must say I probably agree with y’al..ooops, you all.