Ain't was: Seeking Grammar Police Ruling

[kempermentor]

> Carol:
> "Ain't" (originally spelled "an't" and probably pronounced "ant"--see
> "David Copperfield," for example) ...
> I'm not sure when or why "an't" became "ain't" but it may
> have become associated with illiteracy at about the same time.

Kemper now:
That's curious.  Moby Dick, an ocean away, was published at about the
same time as David Copperfield.  In the first chapter, Ishmael, a
scholar turned sailor (ok, he was a school teacher) asks the reader,
"Who ain't a slave? Tell me that."

Of course... I don't know if the first edition had 'an't' instead of
'ain't'.  Or maybe the pronunciation of 'an't' changed in America, and
Melville reflected that.

25 years or so later, Tom Sawyer's Aunt Polly gently laughs and asks
herself about Tom, "Ain't he played me tricks enough like that for me
to be looking out for him by this time?"

Twain quotes himself, in A Tramp Abroad, as yelling at the age of 10
(circa 1845), "Fire, fire! JUMP AND RUN, THE BOAT'S AFIRE AND THERE
AIN'T A MINUTE TO LOSE!"  Of course, the book was written some 30+
years later, so maybe he said 'an't' or even 'isn't'.  Just scanning
his non-fiction, I haven't noticed any use of the word 'ain't' that
isn't in a quote.  But don't hold me to that being true.

Kemper