By Carl Jones
I was watching a British movie recently about some British soldiers during WW II who were trapped behind enemy lines and trying to get to Dunkirk. The movie, as I said, was made in Britain by a British production company, and throughout the movie the soldiers frequently used the word “ain’t.” This would probably surprise a lot of Americans today who’ve been taught incorrectly that the word is “Southern slang.”
Ain’t is a contraction that has been in the English language for over 500 years. The thing is, it originated, I believe, in Southern and Western England where the ancestors of many Americans, especially Southerners, came from, but was presumably not used in the Eastern Counties where the Puritan ancestors of many New Englanders came from.
I heard one linguistic educator say that “when a person used the word ain’t in the 1600s, he was considered to be showcasing his aristocracy.” In other words, it was not only an English word, but a word of the upper crust of society.
The idea that ain’t is not a word, or that it is “ignorant” or “hick” in nature, is an assertion put forth by Yankees (not to be confused with “Northerners,” most of whom are not Puritan descendants). Noah Webster, a Yankee, wrote his dictionary as a means of teaching “wayward” Americans from outside of New England “proper” English. By proper, he meant “Yankee” English.
As Professor Clyde Wilson pointed out, Shakespearean theater performed properly would be performed with a Southern accent because Shakespeare was from Southern England, which is where at least one of the half dozen or so Southern dialects originated.
Attempts by “elites” to change our language are no different than attempts to take down our flags, our monuments or to teach the Yankee version of why the South seceded. It is an assault on our Heritage and our culture. It’s a part of an ongoing and generations-old attempt to make all Americans over in the Yankee image. To make us forget who we are. Like most other leftist initiatives, it is also birthed in pure “ignorance.”
Carl Jones is past Chief of Heritage Operations for the Sons of Confederate Veterans, past Alabama Division Commander of the SCV, current Army of Tennessee Councilman, and NRA Certified Firearms Instructor.
Some additional info:
Source: Dissident Mama – “Ain’t” ain’t what you think it is