"Ain't no love... in the heart of the city, ain't no love...in the heart of town"

I ain't got no money

HuMpThAnG said:

I ain't got no money

Ain't got none neither.

SquirrelMeat said:

Pokeno4Money said:

I have, but I thought it was a derogatory term for those who don't speak proper English? Every African American that I know uses the same proper English as President Obama (better than George Bush's ), so this idea of a separate language for black people is foreign to me. We are not talking about "slang", are we?

I just don't get it. Why create a separate language, especially when most people of color (I think) want to be treated the same as everyone else? How is America ever going to turn into the big melting pot it's supposed to be if groups of people create barriers such as "Black English" to separate themselves from the rest of society? Isn't it bad enough we've already got millions living in America who don't speak any English at all?

LOL. I notice no one is looking for the history of English in the obvious place. England.

Ain't or An't was being used in England in the 17th century, long before popping up in the States in the 18th century.

There are a lot of people refering to proper English, when they mean U.S. English.

What can I say, I'm an American who speaks just two languages: Canadian and US English

I know there are Orgers from all around the world, but if I were to write about every issue from a global perspective it would become too time consuming and convoluted IMO ... especially with historical subjects such as this.

purplethunder3121 said:

HuMpThAnG said:

I ain't got no money

Ain't got none neither.

you know that's a lyric right?

purplethunder3121 said:

Ain't no info like misinfo.

HuMpThAnG said:

purplethunder3121 said:

Ain't got none neither.

you know that's a lyric right?

Ain't it the truth?!

purplethunder3121 said:

HuMpThAnG said:

you know that's a lyric right?

Ain't it the truth?!

free2bfreeda said:

KingBAD said:

balck english is somethin white folks came up with...

i speak fluent nigga and have yet to find somebody

that speaks ebonics OR black english AND i'm damn near sixty

you tho crazee, and your honesty is unparallelled.

AIN'T I???

Ain't misbehavin'.

It ain't necessarily so. Name the opera. NO CHEATING by Google!

[Edited 2/17/15 11:26am]

Shyra said:

It ain't necessarily so. Name the opera. NO CHEATING by Google!

[Edited 2/17/15 11:26am]

porgy n bess

sung by sammy davis

in the movie

Woooow, I really had no idea my OP would start such a fascinating linguistics debate! Thanks y'all for sharing your thoughts and knowlege

it jest ain't right

KingBAD said:

Shyra said:

It ain't necessarily so. Name the opera. NO CHEATING by Google!

[Edited 2/17/15 11:26am]

porgy n bess

sung by sammy davis

in the movie

Ding Ding Ding! Wit ja bad sef! I figured only "we" would know.


Oh, and your selfie reminds me of an ex. Spittin image, man! He could "sang" his ass off, too.

'Ain't no Mountain High' Diana Ross

Oh baby there ain't no mountain high enough,
Ain't no valley low enough,
Ain't no river wide enough
To keep me from getting to you babe

Read more: Marvin Gaye - Ain't No Mo...etroLyrics

Cheap Trick cover of 'aint that ashame' by Fats Domino

You made me cry when you said good-bye.
Ain't that a shame... My tears fall like rain
Ain't that a shame... You're the one to blame.
You broke my heart, now we're apart.
Ain't that a shame... My tears fall like rain
Ain't that a shame... You're the one to blame.

It's use is so popular in song lyrics, it ain't even worth worrying about. It's not what I'd naturally use in a conversation, but that's prob cause my parents didn't use the word at all. I wouldn't hesitate to use it if it just came out though.

.

I can't imagine using "ain't", "it's not" or anything which leans negative during a job interview, because you need to be all about the positive anyway in that situation!

Was just listening to ABC's Vanity Kills

'Vanity kills

It don't pay bills'

This from a British band on top of it all!

databank said:

Was just listening to ABC's Vanity Kills

'Vanity kills

Ain't gonna pay no bills'

This from a British band on top of it all!

There, fixed it for ya.

I think it's important to safeguard standard language, but one of the clear benefits of an occasional irreverence toward it is that colloquialisms confer broader, deeper semiotic coding in our communication as well as poetic expansion and constant evolution in our vocabularies. Case in point: "Ain't" is one of those words that, perhaps because of its pedigree, remains low brow in the minds of more formal types. But it is a fantastic go to, both because its folkiness in and of itself communicates a certain intimacy between the speaker and listener and because it can actually fill a syntactical gap in English....

If I wanted to pose to my wife a more succinct version of: "I am sexy, am I not?", the Queen's English would have me retreat to: "I am sexy, aren't I?" This is technically incorrect, though, because "are" is the first-, second- and third-person plural form of the verb "to be." "I," being the singular subject of my sentence, would more appropriately call for a contraction of the first-person singular form of "to be" ("am") and "not." No such contraction exists in standardized English.

I have friends who are linguists, and they have mentioned the fact that native Anglophone children from all over the world, when they are still learning to speak, will often (brilliantly) come up with something like: "I'm a good girl, amn't I, mommy?" And bless their hearts, because they're offering something we silly adults -- at least the ones who scoff at the likes of "ain't" -- have consistently failed to provide in our spoken culture.

All that said, databank, it's true: "Ain't" is not looked upon as a favourable word in received English. But as with all non-standard uses of language, taboo words and phrases, etc., I'd encourage you not to altogether remove it from your repertoire, but rather know and respect the very precise message its use communicates.

[Edited 2/22/15 10:26am]

just to put a little music break to the topic at hand.