Post #1414694

2026-03-31 15:07 UTC

@hamishb @bodhipaksa @stancarey I've been aware of "amn't" as a contraction of "am not" for a while, but I've never heard it used. The word "ain't" is also a contraction of "am not", but it has been banned as slang since I was a child. I have to wonder if the prohibition on "amn't" is an extension of the prohibition on "ain't". "Aren't" as the first person contraction apparently is a result of the fact that "an't" (another variant of "ain't") and "aren't" have the same pronunciation in certain dialects of English.

Replies (2)

@stancarey@mastodon.ie 2026-03-31 15:16

@hewer_of_code @hamishb @bodhipaksa I wouldn't say it's an extension of it, but the prohibitions are related. I touch on this, and the phonetic influences, and the Scottish use of "amn't", in my post about the word, fwiw. None of the usages are really slang, though that characterization of dialect forms is sometimes how people try to belittle them https://stancarey.wordpress.com/2014/03/04/amnt-i-glad-we-use-amnt-in-ireland/

Open ##1414695
@hewer_of_code@mstdn.ca 2026-03-31 15:16

@hamishb @bodhipaksa @stancarey This reminds me of something that happened in the reverse, seemingly just in Canada. My dad used to pronounce "khaki" as "car key", in a typical rhotic Canadian English accent. Canadians had added the 'r' in as an over-correction from the non-rhotic English accent, which "khaki" and "car key" are also homonyms because the "r" is not pronounced. My dad is the only one I knew of. I'm not sure how many Canadians still pronounce it this way, as we tend also to "do it to ourselves" in comparison to American English.

Open ##1414696