the old gray/grey mare, She ain't what she used to be

[Mark Mandel]

Roly Sussex writes:

>>>>>
I am checking on the spread of "ain't", including its revival in
Australia. Does anyone know whether the song "The old gray/grey mare,
She ain't what she used to be" is American in origin? Several
colleagues here have indicated that this is their first remembered
hearing of "ain't" outside North America.
<<<<<

"There are ents, and there are things that look like ents but ain't, if you
take my meaning." Quote is approximate, from memory, but the punning use of
"ain't" is definite. This is said by Treebeard the Ent in J.R.R.Tolkien's
_The Lord of the Rings_. And Tolkien was no American, and was very clear on
his sources for language and story (even if he *does* have potatoes in
Europe over 10,000 years ago).

I'm not sure if you're asking whether "ain't" is American in origin. I'm
certain it ain't.

                  Mark A. Mandel : Senior Linguist
 Dragon Systems, a Lernout & Hauspie company : speech recognition
 320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02460, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com