ain't = didn't

[Wilson Gray]

On Jul 5, 2005, at 5:28 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      ain't = didn't
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> --------
>
> I first encountered this about five years ago.  I think O.J. Simpson
> was being quoted in the _New Yorker_.
>
> More recently,
>
> 2003 Russell Simmons _Def Poetry Jam on Broadway and More_ (N.Y.:
> Atria Books) 133
> Lemon ain't grow up easy.  The half Puerto Rican kid from Sunset Park,
> Brooklyn, grew up an outlaw and describes his parents as outlaws too.
>
> JL

I've found "ain't" in place of "didn't" to be annoyingly common - so
common, in fact, that "didn't" has become the rarity - in contemporary
BE, at least in the street variety. There are probably other old heads
besides me who don't use "ain't" instead of "didn't."

More annoyingly still, though, I don't find that using "ain't" in place
of "didn't" interferes in any way with comprehension. So, there's a
good chance that this replacement of "didn't" may become a permanent
feature. But, one never knows, do one?

-Wilson Gray