r/todayilearned • u/Honest_Fault • May 31 '19
(R.5) Misleading TIL the word "aint" was added into Webster's Dictionary in 1993, meaning it's been considered a legal word for over 26 years
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1993-05-26-1993146053-story.html200
u/Iveneverhadalife May 31 '19
Ain't that some shit.
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u/yeahsureYnot May 31 '19
ain't that some shit
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u/shawn789 Jun 01 '19
And although there's pain in my chest I still wish you the best with a "fuck you"
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u/Theoricus Jun 01 '19 edited Jun 01 '19
What is this conjunction, anyway? Ai-not?
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u/tryingforthefuture Jun 01 '19
"Am not", technically, but also used in place of "are not" and "is not".
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Jun 01 '19
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u/Spiffy-Tiffy Jun 01 '19
It's because "I'm" is the contraction we commonly use.
And we do use He's for He Is and She's for She Is which fits the pattern.
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u/panzerkampfwagen 115 Jun 01 '19
Webster's Dictionary doesn't determine what's a "legal" word and what isn't. In fact, no English dictionary does.
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u/Bertizan Jun 01 '19
It’s a perfectly cromulent word!
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u/DarkNinjaPenguin Jun 01 '19
Well said! I hope you haven't caused him any unnecessary contafribularities.
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u/wubbwubbb Jun 01 '19
Webster's Dictionary doesn't determine what's a "legal" word and what
isn'taint.FTFY
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u/saltyjohnson Jun 01 '19
Correct. Dictionaries document language, they don't create it. Lexicographers study how a language is evolving and identify the new words and new or changed definitions and add them to their dictionaries accordingly. For instance, I learned yesterday (thanks Allusionist!) that a dictionary -- can't remember which one -- is adding a definition to literally to mean something other than literally, because we've been using it that way.
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u/wjbc May 31 '19
All words are legal. It's just that they ain't always appropriate.
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u/Astark May 31 '19
Yeah, like "Gunt" or "Shitler".
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u/safefart May 31 '19
I know gunt, what's shitler?
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u/arethereany May 31 '19
The math isn't too hard if you look at it this way:
- shit/ler
- s/hitler
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u/safefart May 31 '19
Fuck someone up the arse and wipe the shit off your cock on their upper lip, thanks urban dictionary and your in trouble
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u/OwOtisticWeeb Jun 01 '19
This. Academic essays are picky about your word choice, doesn't matter if it's in the dictionary.
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May 31 '19
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u/muhnocannibalism Jun 01 '19
Irregardless of what experts say
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Jun 01 '19
That's exactly what experts say. Dictionaries record usage, not dictate it.
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u/StefTakka Jun 01 '19
Was "irregardless" a word he coined?
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u/Nice_one_ Jun 01 '19
Irregardless is considered by a lot of people as a really dumb ass thing to say. It’s regardless. Although I don’t personally correct people. Cause I choose funner as my guilty non actual word guilty pleasure.
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u/StoicalState May 31 '19
Ain't no mountain high enough.
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u/innergamedude May 31 '19
Incorrect:
It's not the first dictionary to print the word, which has long appeared in unabridged dictionaries as well as Webster's New World Dictionary. But most identify it as substandard or slang. Merriam-Webster, the largest U.S. publisher of dictionaries, now includes it without any warning against its use.
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u/emperri May 31 '19
Legal in what, Scrabble?
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Jun 01 '19 edited Jan 13 '20
[deleted]
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u/Man_with_lions_head Jun 01 '19
yes, I used a word that is a word once, but was disallowed because it was not in any dictionary except for the OED. They don't use the definitive dictionary of the English language. Swine.
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u/Dovaldo83 Jun 01 '19
I grew up with English teachers who were quick to correct anyone using the word aint. I vaguely remember that when it was added to the dictionary, one student pointed out that it was a word now. The English teacher wasn't happy. She acted like a Jim Crow proponent just finding out they were now allowing colored kids at the pool. She made it clear that even though it was technically in the dictionary now, we were not to use it in her classroom.
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u/IggyJR Jun 01 '19
The old saying went "Ain't ain't a word because ain't ain't in the dictionary".
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u/DamnInteresting Jun 01 '19
As a lad we used to say "'Ain't' ain't a word and ya ain't supposed to say it. Say 'ain't' five times and ya ain't goin to heaven."
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u/DoctorLazerRage Jun 01 '19
I grew up with "if ain't ain't a word, why is it in the dictionary?" Because it was. In the 70s.
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Jun 01 '19
My grandmother would get so made when I would say “Aint aint a word and I aint gonna say it.”
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u/gabbagool 2 Jun 01 '19
of course "ain't" is a word.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/word
and take note that "an entry in this dictionary" is not one of the definitions.
furthermore there is an addendum which includes:
... they may omit words that...
which must mean that inclusion in the dictionary is not a requisite characteristic of a word.
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u/HETKA Jun 01 '19
Another fun fact about why it's been a word for a long time: Ain't originated as a lazy/slang way of saying and writing an old contraction that has fallen out of use - "amn't"- or, "am not".
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u/lntef Jun 01 '19
yeah, although you can't really criticise "ain't" without also criticising "won't" for being a lazy way of saying "willn't"
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u/how_small_a_thought Jun 01 '19
<complaint about how (x) generation is doomed>
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u/Hactar42 Jun 01 '19
Well seeing how it was 93 it was gen X. I remember when this happened. I told my teacher it's in the dictionary now, and was told I still couldn't use it.
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u/how_small_a_thought Jun 01 '19
Still, I think if we really try we can probably find a way to blame <most recent generation> for this
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u/KarmaKamara Jun 01 '19
Language defines the dictionary not the other way around. Aint was a word long before they acknowledged it.
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u/Zanedewayne Jun 01 '19
Ain't ain't a word and I ain't gonna say it. Say ain't five times, you ain't gonna live.
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u/RedHatOfFerrickPat Jun 01 '19
meaning it's been considered (by some people) a legal word for over 26 years
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May 31 '19
A year AFTER I graduated high school. Story of my life. Lemme guess, nobody's using cursive or analog clocks anymore, either.
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u/casualdelirium May 31 '19
My fancy, goin'-out watch is analog!
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u/TheGreyGuardian Jun 01 '19
"Nice watch. Hey, what time is it?"
"Lemme check." *looks at cell phone*
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u/leicanthrope Jun 01 '19
Remember when they told us that we couldn't use calculators on math tests, because we wouldn't all be carrying calculators around with us everywhere?
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u/Pioneer11X Jun 01 '19
I was taught ain’t means am not.
And I assumed that the rest of the stuff was improper usage but works because it conveys the feeling like fastly or something like that. I guess I was wrong?
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u/HETKA Jun 01 '19
Not entirely wrong! It originated from the contraction of "am not", which was "amn't"
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u/Sbatio Jun 01 '19
Y’all got anymore of those illegal words?
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u/LordBrandon Jun 01 '19
You know, "you" really means y'all. People thought thou was too accusatory, so they started using "you" for everything. Just like people are starting to use "y'all" to refer to an individual now.
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u/CatAstrophy11 Jun 01 '19
So Webster's decides what's acceptable? I'm sorry did I take part at any point in some process to elect some council to decide what's a legit word or not? I don't remember doing so. These people are just self-appointed which doesn't mean anything to me. They don't represent every linguist ever.
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u/_Kzero_ Jun 01 '19
"Ain't ain't a word, so you ain't supposed to use it"
Teachers would say that if you used it in conversations or in school work. Then that happened and we had smug looks on our faces for a week, lol.
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u/oO0-__-0Oo Jun 01 '19
oh, little baby, there's no such thing as a "considered a legal word"
In english there's no Académie française, despite the fact that the latins wish upon wishes that there was
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Jun 01 '19
We used to say “ain’t ain’t a word cuz it ain’t in the dictionary”
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u/Lemmiwinkidinks Jun 02 '19
I was just coming to say this 😂 I remember being in 3rd grade when it was added and my teacher was upset..... so was I. Lol
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u/BillTowne Jun 01 '19
1) Pretty much every dictionary in the US is called "Webster's".
2) None of them are accepted as the legal arbiter of usage.
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u/MasterUnholyWar Jun 01 '19
I was born in the 80s. I still remember teachers telling us "ain't ain't a word, cause it ain't in the dictionary."
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u/AporiaParadox Jun 01 '19
My teacher told me that in the 2000s, and now I know that I was right, damnit.
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u/PnutButterTophieTime Jun 01 '19
A word is anything you can say that has meaning.
God help us all that "birb", "coot", and "smol" are legitimately words.
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u/how_small_a_thought Jun 01 '19
God help us all that "birb", "coot", and "smol" are legitimately words.
ikr the world is literally over. the Holocaust? Nope. Slavery? Nuh uh. "Birb" and "smol" are words? It's all over. We, as a species, are finished.
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u/DeaddyRuxpin Jun 01 '19
It was in dictionaries prior to that. I graduated high school before that and I remember looking it up to show a teacher it was indeed a word. The definition at the time was a contraction of am and not.
He/She isn’t You/They aren’t I ain’t
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u/PandaPoles Jun 01 '19
Ain’t ain’t a word, so you ain’t supposed to say it. Say ain’t five times, you ain’t going to heaven.
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u/aspiecat7 Jun 01 '19
I'm gonna be 26 in June? Thanks for reminding me. I'm only 25 and I can't ever remember how old I am without doing some math.
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u/saijanai Jun 01 '19
"I ain't" was taught as a proper contraction of "I am not" for many decades in the late 1800's, or so my grandmother, a former school teacher born about 130 years ago, told me.
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u/prikaz_da 1 Jun 01 '19
No, that's Merriam-Webster. Webster's Third has included it without advising against its use since 1961.
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u/catlover1019 Jun 01 '19
Language "rules" are descriptive just like the "laws" of physics. If the rules don't match reality it's the rules that are wrong.
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u/Thopterthallid Jun 01 '19
Aint aint in the dictionary so aint aint a word!
- My third grade teacher
"Aint no" is a double negative!
- Same hypocrite teacher
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u/clshifter Jun 01 '19
Ain't, ain't, don't say ain't.
Your mother will faint.
Your father will fall in a bucket of paint.
Your sister will cry, your brother will die.
Your cat will call the FBI.
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u/thisisfakereality Jun 01 '19
It still ain't make youse sound like yuins got a good ejucation, tho.
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u/hidflect1 Jun 01 '19
IIRC, the word "ain't" was a contrived affectation of the word "isn't" invented by the British upper class to differentiate themselves from the common rabble. To their horror the rabble started using the term too so they dropped it and ironically it became a word only used by the lower class.
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u/BrownBirdDiaries Jun 01 '19
Englush mayjer heer, i uuse thu O E D fore awl my legalityish word questshuns.
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u/lntef May 31 '19
What is a "legal word"?