ain't

The word "Moby" also appears in Moby Dick...

The word "ain't" appears in Herman Melville's "Moby Dick." I'd say that's about all the support the English languages needs for its official inclusion in the language.

The word "ain't" appears in Herman Melville's "Moby Dick." I'd say that's about all the support the English languages needs for its official inclusion in the language.

Don't say ain't or your mother will faint, your father will fall in a bucket of paint, your sister will cry, your brother will die, and the dog will call the FBI.

Then there's "Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone".

Ain't is a contraction for "am not". Another form is "amn't" but that's hard to pronounce, no? It was further shortened to "a'n't" or "ain't". We're accepting of "we aren't" in the first person plural, "they aren't" in the third person plural, "he isn't" and "she isn't" and "it isn't" in the third person singular, and "you aren't" in the second person singular and plural. So why the resistance to "I ain't" in the first person singular? Granted, the extension of "ain't" to the second person singular (cf. the song "Is You or Is You Ain't My Baby" by Billy Austin and Louis Jordan) and to the third person singular (cf. "It Ain't Me Babe" by Bob Dylan) is problematic, albeit fun. But as far as I can see, "I ain't" is fair game.

What is wrong with this word? It has been part of Standard English since at least the time of Twain, and will continue to be so. It is not acceptable written English, but then many things people say aren't.

I don't know who thought that it would be a good idea to officially make that a word, but they should be tarred and feathered for it!

Poor ain't. So universally reviled by Latin-loving prescriptivist grammar Nazis. Yet so wonderfully Anglo-Saxon.