Invariant innit, isn ´t it

[Grant Barrett]

Sep 7, 2006, at 11:20, David Sutcliffe wrote:
>  Example:  She´s unusual, innit
> I asked about the incoming use in London English of this invariant
> tag innit,
> ennit, (isn`t it, but less likely).  My feeling is that this was
> unknown in
> dialects of English on both sides of the Atlantic until recently,
> with the sole
> exception of Welsh English under the influence of Welsh.

What's "recent"? OED has it back to 1959 in a quote from English
writer Michael Francis Gilbert's book "Blood and Judgment."

Even if you don't have OED access to date a usage like this, doing
something like a Usenet search often helps. Google Groups (channeling
Usenet) shows it back to 1984 from someone professing to be Cockney.

http://groups.google.com/group/net.movies/msg/746e2b8d10236d9d

Grant Barrett
Double-Tongued Dictionary
http://www.doubletongued.org/
editor at doubletongued.org

The Official Dictionary of Unofficial English (May 2006, McGraw-Hill)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0071458042/

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