The word "ain't" is a

contraction Contraction may refer to: Linguistics * Contraction (grammar), a shortened word * Poetic contraction, omission of letters for poetic reasons * Elision, omission of sounds ** Syncope (phonology), omission of sounds in a word * Synalepha, merged ...

for ''am not'', ''is not'', ''are not'', ''has not'', ''have not'' in the common English language

vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...

. In some dialects ''ain't'' is also used as a contraction of ''do not'', ''does not'' and ''did not''. The development of ''ain't'' for the various forms of ''to be not'', ''to have not'' and ''to do not'' occurred independently, at different times. The usage of ''ain't'' for the forms of ''to be not'' was established by the mid-18th century and for the forms of ''to have not'' by the early 19th century. The usage of ''ain't'' is a continuing subject of controversy in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. ''Ain't'' is commonly used by many speakers in oral and informal settings, especially in certain regions and

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...

s. Its usage is often highly stigmatized and it can be used by the general public as a marker of low socio-economic or regional status or education level. Its use is generally considered non-standard by dictionaries and style guides except when used for rhetorical effect.

Etymology

''Ain't'' has several antecedents in English, corresponding to the various forms of ''to be not'' and ''to have not'' that ''ain't'' contracts. The development of ''ain't'' for ''to be not'' and ''to have not'' is a ''diachronic coincidence''; in other words, they were independent developments at different times.

Contractions of ''to be not''

''Amn't'' as a contraction of ''am not'' is known from 1618. As the "mn" combination of two nasal consonants is disfavoured by many English speakers, the "m" of amn't began to be

elided In linguistics, an elision or deletion is the omission of one or more sounds (such as a vowel, a consonant, or a whole syllable) in a word or phrase. However, these terms are also used to refer more narrowly to cases where two words are run toget ...

, reflected in writing with the new form ''an't''. ''Aren't'' as a contraction for ''are not'' first appeared in 1675. In non-rhotic dialects, ''aren't'' lost its "''r''" sound, and began to be pronounced as ''an't''. ''An't'' (sometimes ''a'n't'') arose from ''am not'' and ''are not'' almost simultaneously. ''An't'' first appears in print in the work of

English Restoration The Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland took place in 1660 when King Charles II returned from exile in continental Europe. The preceding period of the Protectorate and the civil wars came to be ...

playwrights.Merriam-Webster, Inc
"ain't"
The Merriam-Webster New Book of Word Histories. 1991. pp.7–9. In 1695 ''an't'' was used as a contraction of "am not", in

William Congreve William Congreve (24 January 1670 – 19 January 1729) was an English playwright and poet of the Restoration period. He is known for his clever, satirical dialogue and influence on the comedy of manners style of that period. He was also a mi ...

's play ''Love for Love'': "I can hear you farther off, I an't deaf". But as early as 1696

Sir John Vanbrugh Sir John Vanbrugh (; 24 January 1664 (baptised) – 26 March 1726) was an English architect, dramatist and herald, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restora ...

uses ''an't'' to mean "are not" in ''The Relapse'': "Hark thee shoemaker! These shoes an't ugly, but they don't fit me". Dodger introduces Oliver to Fagin by Cruikshank (detail)

Dodger introduces Oliver to Fagin by Cruikshank (detail)

''An't'' for ''is not'' may have developed independently from its use for ''am not'' and ''are not''. ''Isn't'' was sometimes written as ''in't'' or ''en't'', which could have changed into ''an't''. ''An't'' for ''is not'' may also have filled a gap as an extension of the already-used conjugations for ''to be not''.

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish Satire, satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whig (British political party), Whigs, then for the Tories (British political party), Tories), poe ...

used ''an't'' to mean ''is not'' in Letter 19 of his

Journal to Stella ''A Journal to Stella'' is a work by Jonathan Swift first partly published posthumously in 1766. It consists of 65 letters to his friend, Esther Johnson, whom he called ''Stella'' and whom he may have secretly married. They were written between ...

(1710–13): ''It an't my fault, 'tis Patrick's fault; pray now don't blame Presto.'' ''An't'' with a long "a" sound began to be written as ''ain't'', which first appears in writing in 1749. By the time ''ain't'' appeared, ''an't'' was already being used for ''am not'', ''are not'' and ''is not''. ''An't'' and ''ain't'' coexisted as written forms well into the nineteenth century—

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

used the terms interchangeably, as in Chapter 13, Book the Second of ''

Little Dorrit ''Little Dorrit'' is a novel by Charles Dickens, originally published in serial form between 1855 and 1857. The story features Amy Dorrit, youngest child of her family, born and raised in the Marshalsea prison for debtors in London. Arthur Cl ...

'' (1857): "'I guessed it was you, Mr Pancks", said she, 'for it's quite your regular night; ain't it? ... An't it gratifying, Mr Pancks, though; really?'". In the English lawyer William Hickey's memoirs (1808–1810), ''ain't'' appears as a contraction of ''aren't''; "thank God we're all alive, ain't we..."

Contractions of ''to have not''

''Han't'' or ''ha'n't'', an early contraction for ''has not'' and ''have not'', developed from the elision of the "s" of ''has not'' and the "v" of ''have not''. ''Han't'' appeared in the work of English Restoration playwrights, as in '' The Country Wife'' (1675) by

William Wycherley William Wycherley (baptised 8 April 16411 January 1716) was an England, English dramatist of the English Restoration, Restoration period, best known for the plays ''The Country Wife'' and ''The Plain Dealer (play), The Plain Dealer''. Early lif ...

: ''Gentlemen and Ladies, han't you all heard the late sad report / of poor Mr. Horner.'' Much like ''an't'', ''han't'' was sometimes pronounced with a long "a", yielding ''hain't''. With

H-dropping ''H''-dropping or aitch-dropping is the deletion of the voiceless glottal fricative or "''H''-sound", . The phenomenon is common in many dialects of English, and is also found in certain other languages, either as a purely historical developmen ...

, the "h" of ''han't'' or ''hain't'' gradually disappeared in most dialects and became ''ain't''. ''Ain't'' as a contraction for ''has not/have not'' first appeared in dictionaries in the 1830s and appeared in 1819 in ''Niles' Weekly Register'': ''Strike! Why I ain't got nobody here to strike....'' Charles Dickens likewise used ''ain't'' to mean ''haven't'' in Chapter 28 of ''

Martin Chuzzlewit ''The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit'' (commonly known as ''Martin Chuzzlewit'') is a novel by Charles Dickens, considered the last of his picaresque novels. It was originally serialised between 1842 and 1844. While he was writing it ...

'' (1844): ''"You ain't got nothing to cry for, bless you! He's righter than a trivet!"'' Like with ''an't'', ''han't'' and ''ain't'' were found together late into the nineteenth century, as in Chapter 12 of Dickens' ''

Our Mutual Friend ''Our Mutual Friend'', written in 1864–1865, is the last novel completed by Charles Dickens and is one of his most sophisticated works, combining savage satire with social analysis. It centres on, in the words of critic J. Hillis Miller, quo ...

'': "'Well, have you finished?' asked the strange man. 'No,' said Riderhood, 'I ain't'....'You sir! You han't said what you want of me.'"

Contractions of ''to do not''

''Ain't'' meaning ''didn't'' is widely considered a feature unique to

African-American Vernacular English African-American Vernacular English (AAVE, ), also referred to as Black (Vernacular) English, Black English Vernacular, or occasionally Ebonics (a colloquial, controversial term), is the variety of English natively spoken, particularly in urban ...

,Howe, Darin
"Negation in African American Vernacular English"
from Aspects of English Negation. p.185. although it can be found in some dialects of

Caribbean English Caribbean English (CE, CarE) is a set of dialects of the English language which are spoken in the Caribbean and Liberia, most countries on the Caribbean coast of Central America, and Guyana and Suriname on the coast of South America. Carib ...

as well. It may function not as a true variant of ''didn't'', but as a creole-like tense-neutral negator (sometimes termed "generic ''ain't''"). Its origin may have been due to approximation when early African-Americans acquired English as a second language; it is also possible that early African-Americans inherited this variation from colonial European-Americans and later kept the variation when it largely passed out of wider usage. Besides the standard construction ''ain't got'', ''ain't'' is rarely attested for the present-tense constructions ''do not'' or ''does not''.

Linguistic characteristics

Linguistically, ''ain't'' is formed by the same rule that English speakers use to form ''aren't'' and other contractions of auxiliary verbs.Denham, Kristin, Anne Lobeck
Linguistics for Everyone: An Introduction
2009. p.171. Linguists consider usage of ''ain't'' to be grammatical, as long as its users convey their intended meaning to their audience. In other words, a sentence such as "She ain't got no sense" is grammatical because it generally follows a native speaker's word order, and because a native speaker would recognize the meaning of that sentence. Linguists draw a distinction, however, between grammaticality and acceptability: what may be considered grammatical across all dialects may nevertheless be considered not acceptable in certain dialects or contexts. The usage of ''ain't'' is socially unacceptable in some situations. Functionally, ''ain't'' has operated in part to plug what is known as the " amn't gap" – the anomalous situation in standard English whereby there are standard contractions for other forms of ''to be not'' (''aren't'' for ''are not'', and ''isn't'' for ''is not''), but no standard contraction for ''am not''. Historically, ''ain't'' has filled the gap where one might expect ''amn't'', even in contexts where other uses of ''ain't'' were disfavored. Standard dialects that regard ''ain't'' as non-standard often substitute ''aren't'' for ''am not'' in tag questions (e.g., "I'm doing okay, ''aren't I''?"), while leaving the "amn't gap" open in declarative statements.

Proscription and stigma

''Ain't'' has been called "the most stigmatized word in the language",Lynch, Jack
''The Lexicographer's Dilemma''
Bloomsbury Publishing USA. 2009. pp.15–16. as well as "the most powerful social marker" in English.Dillard, Joey Lee
''Toward a Social History of American English''
Walter de Gruyter. 1985. p. 86. It is a prominent example in English of a

shibboleth A shibboleth (; hbo, , šībbōleṯ) is any custom or tradition, usually a choice of phrasing or even a single word, that distinguishes one group of people from another. Shibboleths have been used throughout history in many societies as passwor ...

– a word used to determine inclusion in or exclusion from, a group. Historically, this was not the case. For most of its history, ''ain't'' was acceptable across many social and regional contexts. Throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, ''ain't'' and its predecessors were part of normal usage for both educated and uneducated English speakers and was found in the correspondence and fiction of, among others,

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

Henry Fielding Henry Fielding (22 April 1707 – 8 October 1754) was an English novelist, irony writer, and dramatist known for earthy humour and satire. His comic novel '' Tom Jones'' is still widely appreciated. He and Samuel Richardson are seen as founders ...

and

George Eliot Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wro ...

. For Victorian English novelists

William Makepeace Thackeray William Makepeace Thackeray (; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was a British novelist, author and illustrator. He is known for his satirical works, particularly his 1848 novel '' Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portrait of British society, and t ...

and

Anthony Trollope Anthony Trollope (; 24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882) was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era. Among his best-known works is a series of novels collectively known as the '' Chronicles of Barsetshire'', which revolves ar ...

, the educated and upper classes in 19th century England could use ''ain't'' freely, but in familiar speech only.Görlach, Manfred
''English in nineteenth-century England: an introduction''

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

. 1999. ''Ain't'' continued to be used without restraint by many upper middle class speakers in southern England into the beginning of the 20th century. ''Ain't'' was a prominent target of early

prescriptivist Linguistic prescription, or prescriptive grammar, is the establishment of rules defining preferred usage of language. These rules may address such linguistic aspects as spelling, pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax, and semantics. Sometimes infor ...

writers. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, some writers began to propound the need to establish a "pure" or "correct" form of English. Contractions in general were disapproved of, but ''ain't'' and its variants were seen as particularly "vulgar". This push for "correctness" was driven mainly by the middle class, which led to an incongruous situation in which non-standard constructions continued to be used by both lower and upper classes, but not by the middle class. The reason for the strength of the proscription against ''ain't'' is not entirely clear. The strong proscription against ''ain't'' in standard English has led to many misconceptions, often expressed jocularly (or ironically), as "''ain't'' ain't a word" or "''ain't'' ain't in the dictionary." ''Ain't'' is listed in most dictionaries, including the ''

Oxford Dictionary of English The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' (''ODE'') is a single-volume English dictionary published by Oxford University Press, first published in 1998 as ''The New Oxford Dictionary of English'' (''NODE''). The word "new" was dropped from the titl ...

''"Ain't", entry i
Oxford English Dictionary
Accessed 5 June 2015. and Merriam-Webster."Ain't", entry in ''

Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage ''Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage'' is a usage dictionary published by Merriam-Webster, Inc., of Springfield, Massachusetts . It is currently available in a reprint edition (1994) or . (The 1989 edition did not include ''Merriam-'' ...

'', E. Ward Gilman, ed., ''Merriam-Webster''. 1989. . However, Oxford states "it does not form part of standard English and should never be used in formal or written contexts" and Merriam-Webster states it is "widely disapproved as non-standard and more common in the habitual speech of the less educated". ''

Webster's Third New International Dictionary ''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (commonly known as ''Webster's Third'', or ''W3'') was published in September 1961. It was edited by Philip Babcock Gove and a team of lexicographers who spent 757 ...

'', published in 1961, went against then-standard practice when it included the following usage note in its entry on : "though disapproved by many and more common in less educated speech, used orally in most parts of the U.S. by many cultivated speakers esp. in the phrase ''ain't I''." Many commentators disapproved of the dictionary's relatively permissive attitude toward the word, which was inspired, in part, by the belief of its editor, Philip Gove, that "distinctions of usage were elitist and artificial".

Regional usage and dialects

MARK TWAIN(1883) p366 - AIN'T THAT SO, THOMPSON

''Ain't'' is found throughout the English-speaking world across regions and classes and is among the most pervasive nonstandard terms in English. It is one of two negation features (the other being the

double negative A double negative is a construction occurring when two forms of grammatical negation are used in the same sentence. Multiple negation is the more general term referring to the occurrence of more than one negative in a clause. In some languages, ...

) that are known to appear in all nonstandard

English dialects Dialects are linguistic varieties that may differ in pronunciation, vocabulary, spelling and grammar. For the classification of varieties of English only in terms of pronunciation, see regional accents of English. Overview Dialects can be defi ...

. ''Ain't'' is used throughout the United Kingdom, with its geographical distribution increasing over time. It is also found throughout most of North America, including in

Appalachia Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ca ...

, the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

, the Mid-Atlantic and the

Upper Midwest The Upper Midwest is a region in the northern portion of the U.S. Census Bureau's Midwestern United States. It is largely a sub-region of the Midwest. Although the exact boundaries are not uniformly agreed-upon, the region is defined as referring ...

of the United States and Canada, particularly in rural communities and the

Western Provinces Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada– ...

. In its geographical ubiquity, ''ain't'' is to be contrasted with other folk usages such as ''

y'all ''Y'all'' (pronounced ) is a contraction of ''you'' and ''all'', sometimes combined as ''you-all''. ''Y'all'' is the main second-person plural pronoun in Southern American English, with which it is most frequently associated, though it also ap ...

'', which is strongly associated with the Southern United States. In England, ''ain't'' is generally considered a non-standard usage, as it is used by speakers of a lower socio-economic class or by educated people in an informal manner.Castillo González, Maria del Pilar
Uncontracted Negatives and Negative Contractions in Contemporary English
Universidad de Santiago de Compostela. p.34. In the nineteenth century, ''ain't'' was often used by writers to denote regional dialects such as

Cockney English Cockney is an accent and dialect of English, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by working-class and lower middle-class Londoners. The term "Cockney" has traditionally been used to describe a person from the East End, or b ...

. A notable exponent of the term is

Cockney Cockney is an accent and dialect of English, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by working-class and lower middle-class Londoners. The term "Cockney" has traditionally been used to describe a person from the East End, or b ...

flower girl

Eliza Doolittle Eliza Doolittle is a fictional character and the protagonist in George Bernard Shaw's play ''Pygmalion'' (1913) and its 1956 musical adaptation, ''My Fair Lady''. Eliza (from Lisson Grove, London) is a Cockney flower woman, who comes to Profe ...

from

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

's play ''

Pygmalion Pygmalion or Pigmalion may refer to: Mythology * Pygmalion (mythology), a sculptor who fell in love with his statue Stage * ''Pigmalion'' (opera), a 1745 opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau * ''Pygmalion'' (Rousseau), a 1762 melodrama by Jean-Jacques ...

''; "I ain't done nothing wrong by speaking to the gentleman" said Doolittle. ''Ain't'' is a non-standard feature commonly found in mainstream

Australian English Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and ''de facto'' national language; while Australia has no official language, Engli ...

and in New Zealand, ''ain't'' is a feature of Māori-influenced English. In American English, usage of ''ain't'' corresponds to a middle level of education, although it is widely believed that its use establishes of lack of education or social standing in the speaker. The usage of ''ain't'' in the southern United States is distinctive, however, in the continued usage of the word by well-educated, cultivated speakers.Hendrickson, Robert
The Facts on File Dictionary of American Regionalisms
Infobase Publishing. 2000. p.6. ''Ain't'' is in common usage of educated Southerners. In the South, the use of ''ain't'' can be used as a marker to separate cultured speakers from those who lack confidence in their social standing and thus avoid its use entirely. In the Merico creole of Liberia, it has become or .

Rhetorical and popular usage

''Ain't'' can be used in both speech and writing to catch attention and to give emphasis, as in "Ain't that a crying shame" or "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." ''Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary'' gives an example from film critic

Richard Schickel Richard Warren Schickel (February 10, 1933 – February 18, 2017) was an American film historian, journalist, author, documentarian, and film and literary critic. He was a film critic for ''Time'' magazine from 1965–2010, and also w ...

: "the wackiness of movies, once so deliciously amusing, ain't funny anymore." It can also be used deliberately for what ''The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style'' describes as "

tongue-in-cheek The idiom tongue-in-cheek refers to a humorous or sarcastic statement expressed in a serious manner. History The phrase originally expressed contempt, but by 1842 had acquired its modern meaning. Early users of the phrase include Sir Walter Scott ...

" or "

reverse snobbery ''Snob'' is a pejorative term for a person who believes there is a correlation between social status (including physical appearance) and human worth.De Botton, A. (2004), ''Status Anxiety''. London: Hamish Hamilton ''Snob'' also refers to a per ...

". Star baseball pitcher

Dizzy Dean Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean (January 16, 1910 – July 17, 1974), also known as Jerome Herman Dean (both the 1910 and 1920 Censuses show his name as "Jay"), was an American professional baseball pitcher. During his Major League Baseball (MLB) career ...

, a member of the

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

and later a popular announcer, once said, "A lot of people who don't say ain't, ain't eatin'." Although ''ain't'' is seldom found in formal writing, it is frequently used in more informal written settings, such as popular song lyrics. In genres such as traditional country music, blues, rock n' roll and hip-hop, lyrics often include nonstandard features such as ''ain't''.German, Gary D
Appalachian and African American Lyrical Traditions
from ''Aspects linguistiques du texte poetique'', David Banks, ed. L'Harmattan. 2011. p.154. This is principally due to the use of such features as markers of "covert identity and prestige". ''Ain't'' is standard in some fixed phrases, such as "You ain't seen nothing yet".

Notable usage

* "

Ain't I a Woman? "Ain't I a Woman?" is a speech, delivered extemporaneously, by Sojourner Truth (1797–1883), born into slavery in New York State. Some time after gaining her freedom in 1827, she became a well known anti-slavery speaker. Her speech was deliver ...

", 1851 speech by abolitionist

Sojourner Truth Sojourner Truth (; born Isabella Baumfree; November 26, 1883) was an American abolitionist of New York Dutch heritage and a women's rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to f ...

. * "If you want to know who we are", from ''

The Mikado ''The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen Gilbert and Sullivan, operatic collaborations. It opened on 14 March 1885, in London, whe ...

'' lyrics by

W. S. Gilbert Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 – 29 May 1911) was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan, which produced fourteen comic operas. The most f ...

"We figure in lively paint: Our attitude's queer and quaint—You're wrong if you think it ain't." (1885). * " Say it ain't so, Joe", headline of an article by a ''Chicago Daily News'' reporter about

Shoeless Joe Jackson Joseph Jefferson Jackson (July 16, 1887 – December 5, 1951), nicknamed "Shoeless Joe", was an American outfielder who played Major League Baseball (MLB) in the early 1900s. Although his .356 career batting average is the fourth highest ...

's involvement in the

Black Sox scandal The Black Sox Scandal was a Major League Baseball game-fixing scandal in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox were accused of throwing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for money from a gambling syndicate led ...

, later attributed to an anonymous young baseball fan. * "You ain't heard nothing yet!" spoken by

Al Jolson Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jews, Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-bi ...

in ''

The Jazz Singer ''The Jazz Singer'' is a 1927 American musical drama film directed by Alan Crosland. It is the first feature-length motion picture with both synchronized recorded music score as well as lip-synchronous singing and speech (in several isolated ...

'' (1927), the first feature-length motion picture with synchronized dialogue sequences. That spoken line and others in the film, introduced the "talkies" and revolutionized the movie industry. * "

It Ain't Necessarily So "It Ain't Necessarily So" is a popular song with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by his brother Ira Gershwin. The song comes from the Gershwins' opera ''Porgy and Bess'' ( 1935) where it is sung by the character Sportin' Life, a drug dealer, ...

", song from ''

Porgy and Bess ''Porgy and Bess'' () is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play '' Porgy'', itse ...

'' (1935); music by

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...

, words by

Ira Gershwin Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershovitz; December 6, 1896 – August 17, 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the 2 ...

. * "

Ain't No Grave Ain't No Grave (also known as Gonna Hold This Body Down) is a traditional American gospel song attributed to Claude Ely (19221978) of Virginia. History Claude Ely, a songwriter and preacher from Virginia, describes composing the song while sick w ...

", a 1934/1953 American gospel song attributed to

Claude Ely "Brother" Claude Ely (July 22, 1922 – May 7, 1978) was an American Appalachian religious singer-songwriter and a Pentecostal Holiness preacher. Brother Claude Daniel Ely, coined as the King Recording Label's "Gospel Ranger" of the Appalachia ...

. * "He ain't heavy, he's my brother" has been used as the motto of Boys Town since 1943 and inspired a song "

He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" is a ballad written by Bobby Scott and Bob Russell. Originally recorded by Kelly Gordon in 1969, the song became a worldwide hit for the Hollies later that year and also a hit for Neil Diamond in 1970. It ...

", written by Bobby Scott and Bob Russell and recorded by

The Hollies The Hollies are a British pop rock band, formed in 1962. One of the leading British groups of the 1960s and into the mid-1970s, they are known for their distinctive three-part vocal harmony style. Allan Clarke (singer), Allan Clarke and Graham ...

Neil Diamond Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He has had ten No. 1 singles on the Hot 100 and Adul ...

and other artists. *

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

, commenting on the 1954 portrait by

Graham Sutherland Graham Vivian Sutherland (24 August 1903 – 17 February 1980) was a prolific English artist. Notable for his paintings of abstract landscapes and for his portraits of public figures, Sutherland also worked in other media, including printmaking ...

, said "It makes me look half-witted, which I ain't". * "

Ain't That a Shame "Ain't That a Shame" is a song written by Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew. Domino's recording of the song, originally stated as "Ain't It a Shame", released by Imperial Records in 1955, was a hit, eventually selling a million copies. It reached n ...

" is a song written by

Fats Domino Antoine Dominique Domino Jr. (February 26, 1928 – October 24, 2017), known as Fats Domino, was an American pianist, singer and songwriter. One of the pioneers of rock and roll music, Domino sold more than 65 million records. Born in New O ...

and

Dave Bartholomew David Louis Bartholomew (December 24, 1918 – June 23, 2019) was an American musician, bandleader, composer, arranger, and record producer. He was prominent in the music of New Orleans throughout the second half of the 20th century. Originally ...

, released by Imperial Records in 1955, which went on to sell over a million copies and introduced Fats Domino to a wider audience. * ''

Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be ''Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'be'' is a 1960 West End musical comedy about Cockney low-life characters in the 1950s, including spivs, prostitutes, teddy-boys and corrupt policemen. The work is more of a play with music than a conventional mus ...

'', 1960 West End musical comedy about

life.

References

{{wiktionary