British English and "ain't"

[Alien Mole]

Don't think I'd ever say say 'ain't,' but I've only picked up the higher strata of speech patterns (closest thing to a mesolect I can speak is Estuary English) - at any rate, I'm fairly sure I've never heard 'ain't' in any basilectal speech either, and I have studied my share of accents and speech patterns. I'm fairly sure it's a US thing.

What is quite interesting is that many non-accent aware people trying to speak English here in Belgium will also say 'ain't', simply because of how prevalent it is in media.

 

[FamoFunk]

Welshy - I used "ain't" a lot and "innit" depending on who I'm talking to and what it's about.

 

[kurupt87]

South East London here, it's used a lot.

 

[Ashcrexl]

i use aint quite often. it's usually most appropriate in a situation where you vehemently deny something: such as "that aint happenin pal." or "aint that a bummer." southeast, former northeast here, by the way.

 

[Vault Citizen]

I wished more Americans used "innit". If you're going to force a question into every sentence, I'd prefer "innit?" to "you know (what I mean)?" I swear, some people just have total aversions to statements and only speak in questions.

Personally I think whichever group came up with the word innit (my guess is either chavs or northerners) should be banned from contributing to the English language ever again. I remain hopeful that as a word it will one day die out.

 

[Flames66]

People in the Southern UK to not generally use "ain't" unless they are putting on an American accent.

 

[infohippie]

For that matter, why haven't we still switched from "you" to "u" etc. Typing the full text is a waste when bytes and time is on the count these days.

Oh, no. No no no no no. Using "u" or "ur" as words is one of my pet hates. I will always type the words out in full, even in an SMS. For that matter, I will always type numbers in full - that is, I will write "three" rather than "3".

To the OP: I'm from Western Australia, and I very rarely hear "ain't" in casual conversation. It seems here to be associated with the speech pattern of bogans.

 

[Player 2]

"ain't" is used all the time in cities in England (Liverpool, Manchester,(south)London, Birmingham) in Yorkshire they say en't though. Posh people don't say it and I've never heard a Scottish guy use it.

 

[Outright Villainy]

No, I never say it. Then again, I throw around a ridiculous amount of culchie slang, so who am I to judge.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

I can attest to different accents by region in Australia. There's a much more "British" turn on words in W.A. where as Queesnland is more nasal and "Ocka" (spelling). And everything is a question in Adelaide.

Donkey balls. The 'everything's a question' inflection is part of the 'Ocker' (Broad Australian) accent although if we accept the growth of a Bogan 'sociolect' it would also be part of that. The most significant feature of an Adelaide accent is the Dark L.

 

[SoulIsTheGoal]

I use "ain't" quite a lot, despite sounding like a posh southern fairy (I'm from the UK).

Interestingly, for the OP, I live on the border between two counties one of which has a more rural accent where "ain't" is pronounced "eh-nt" rather than "ay-nt", so there's some variation on the language used here.

I also found myself using "ain't" more when I moved to Coventry (in the midlands) and adopted it as an attempt to emulate the colloquial dialect.

I would say "I try to use the best possible English", but I'm aware of how bloody rubbish my sentence structure is. I apologise to all punctuation and grammar Nazis for my awful writing.

 

[Naheal]

For that matter, why haven't we still switched from "you" to "u" etc. Typing the full text is a waste when bytes and time is on the count these days.

Oh, no. No no no no no. Using "u" or "ur" as words is one of my pet hates. I will always type the words out in full, even in an SMS. For that matter, I will always type numbers in full - that is, I will write "three" rather than "3".

It's one of my pet peeves, too, but I'm slowly starting to back down from it. I think that may just come about to be a major shift between normal written language and internet/SMS language use.

 

[Sethzard]

I only ever say aren't.

 

[Jodah]

Many areas in the US use "ain't" I am in Western New York and hear it all the time, in fact I use it in casual conversation as well. I would never use it in a speech or while writing a paper but yea...

 

[Rosette]

I never say it, I either use isn't or aren't. I have no need for ain't.

 

[Carlston]

Being in Texas, when I was in the navy more northern people used "ain't" than southern.

Course stereotyping the south is easy, but that would be the south eastern with places like Georgia and the like. Which many "southern" states being the east coast.

 

[Baccarat]

I hear, and use, "ain't" all the time. I'm from Glasgow, Scotland and honestly, I'd be more surprised to hear someone saying "aren't" here.

 

[Naheal]

I hear, and use, "ain't" all the time. I'm from Glasgow, Scotland and honestly, I'd be more surprised to hear someone saying "aren't" here.

Really? Do you hear "ain't" often in other areas of Scotland?

 

[bobdonkey]

Depends where you are. There's more than one accent in the UK y'know.

 

[Levi93]

I'm a Brit and I use the word "ain't" alot, I also use the word "noubt" (pronounced nowt) which is another word for nothing and I dont think I've ever met anyone outside my county who uses this word.