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  • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
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    7 hours ago

    Ain’t has been around since 1749, with an’t and in’t preceding it. It seems to have always been associated with the common people, and familiar/colloquial talk. Dickens used it a lot for that reason.

    Aren’t to an’t makes perfect sense among people who don’t pronounce their rs like certain Brits (non-rhotic).

    And isn’t to in’t, and haven’t/hasn’t to hasn’t are certainly no more difficult elisions to understand than Worcestershire or Cholmondly, although those have kept their spelling because they’re names.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ain't