Tag Archives: ain’t

British or American – or doesn’t it matter?

Posted on October 28, 2018 by Ingrid Tieken

I’d never have thought I would read a Young Adult novel, but I did, and here is why. At ICEHL-20, two months ago in Edinburgh, Jane Hodson presented a paper in the course of which she referred to The Knife of … Continue reading →

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Fresh from the press: last interactive feature in English Today

Posted on November 17, 2016 by BtU Admin

In the last two years, we have encouraged readers of English Today to contribute to our research project in our interactive features which can also be found here. The input we have received so far has been invaluable and we … Continue reading →

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#Fundilymundily the language of the UK general election 2015

Posted on May 11, 2015 by Morana Lukač

With the UK general election just behind us, the talk of the language used in the debates still lies ahead. Last night, on the grammar phone-in of the BBC Radio 5’s Up All Night, the presenter Dotun Adebayo discussed the … Continue reading →

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Practicing with the HUGE database

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Robin Straaijer

Last week we ran a workshop with a group of language professionals in which they explored the HUGE database with some practice searches. Those practice search questions are now also available on the database page so you can do the same. … Continue reading →

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Hain’t

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Inge Otto

Have you ever heard anybody say hain’t?  Have you seen it written down somewhere for have not or has not? Until this morning I was totally unfamiliar with the expression. To be honest, I  only knew of the existence of … Continue reading →

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Ain’t: Bob Dylan vs. The Byrds

Posted on September 14, 2013 by Ingrid Tieken

Whenever I listen to Bob Dylan’s song “Mr Tambourine Man”, I catch myself being surprised at the line: I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to. Shouldn’t it be ain’t in this context? Googling for the line, … Continue reading →

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A blogpoll on ain’t

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Ingrid Tieken

As a follow up to Chloe’s post below on ain’t, I’d be interested in having your feedback in a blog poll as well. So please let us know what you think! (Click on the title to access the blog poll.)

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The ain’t forecast:

Posted on May 28, 2013 by xhlo

For the past 150 years, the ain’t forecast has been mostly heavy showers with some sunny patches – much like a European summer – but how do things look now? Here is a brief run-down of the prescriptivists-family reaction to … Continue reading →

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Webster’s ain’t

Posted on October 26, 2012 by BtU Admin

Just out, The Story of Ain’t by David Skinner, editor of Humanities magazine, is not about the verb form in the title but about “the controversy over Webster’s Third” when it was published “with much fanfare in 1961″. The book sets out to explain why … Continue reading →

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Ain’t, Fanny Burney and the OED

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Ingrid Tieken

This gallery contains 3 photos.

One of my most delightful discoveries when I was looking for first quotations from eighteenth-century authors in the OED was that Fanny Burney was cited as the first user of ain’t. The source was Evelina, her first novel published in … Continue reading →

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