Ain't originated as the contraction of "am not". Thus, the utterance "I'm tall, ain't I?" was perfectly grammatical in 1800s. However, because "ain't" is so similar in sound to "aren't", it started to find it's way into utterances like "You ain't hungry". Because of this, grammar teachers everywhere discounted the word entirely, so that now it is grammatical to say "I'm tall, aren't I?" instead. The bottom line? It's a word! Use it!

submitted by John Mark King

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