From the State Fair.....

Do they now?

Ode to Ain't

I would like to pay my respects to one of the most misunderstood words in the English language, "ain't." After all, ain't ain't a word and you ain't supposed to say it, right? Sadly, "ain't" is a word. In fact, it was a well respected word in the English language until the 19th century when prescriptive grammarians decided it was wrong. There is proof in the actual structure of English that it once served a purpose. All the personal pronouns used to have two contractions with the verb "to be:"

They are not     They're not     They aren't
We are not        We're not        We aren't
You are not       You're not       You aren't
He is not           He's not          He isn't
I am not            I'm not            .....

Unfortunately, "I" is left out now. So the next time someone says to you, "You aren't funny..." You either have to awkwardly answer:
"Aren't I?" - which makes no sense since you can't say, "I aren't funny"
or
"Am I not?" - which is ridiculously formal.
 Life would be so much easier if we could all just say "Ain't I?"

Well, R.I.P. "ain't." I wish we could be seen in public together. Life is just full of injustice i guess....