You’ll find “ain’t” in Jane Austen and also Dickens.
And not just in the mouths of knaves and fools;
But the gentry, and characters who’ve been to school.
When you point this out gramatofascists squeal “What the frickin’?”
Need I remind you of Louis Jordan’s “There Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens”?
Among Presidents, both Slick Willie and Dubya used it
just slipped it in for emphasis, like droppin’ a “g.”
Upon further review, seems all right with me.
Their opponents attacked them for it, but they didn’t abuse it,
As for Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, maybe
You recall “Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby?”
No “ain’t” is okay, except among snobs
Who make language policing their full-time job.
It has a long and honorable history
How it became déclassé is a mystery.
My guess is a schoolmarm somewhere along the line
Decided the sound of it wasn’t too fine
Or maybe the lady of the manor heard the help’s twang
And decided her child to henceforth harangue
Until all trace of an accent associated with the South
Was banished; no butter would melt in her kid’s mouth.
