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Old Nick asked (was it only yesterday)? Do you mean she said it in statements? She said "I aren't/aunt at home"? Or are you thinking of a particular pronunciation?
What she said, from memory, was "amt". As in "I amt (am not) going to the shops today". But I don't think she used it in any other position, i.e. she wouldn't have said "I'm fey today, amt (aren't) I?"
But 40 years ago is a long time, and my memory, like most, is fickle!
Oh, and MaxQ is quite right about the usual pronounciation here. Ahnt you, Max?
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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amn't is also found in dictionaries, obviously mean to pronounced [ahnt] (the same as an't/aunt/aren't).
My mother often used "amn't" in a joking manner (pronounced with all the letters, since we are in Canada) and I occasionally use it in informal conversation.
I have also heard (in UK) "amn't" with all the letters and have also used it myself without really knowing why I did so. I have obviously seen it written, but have never questioned why they or myself used it.
In some UK dialects you will hear the "r" pronounced in "aren't".
Rod
ta-daaaaa!
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Rod's an enthusiast!
(ta-daaaaa)
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<so I would surmise it's an Irish language contraction>
Wow, isn't serendipity a wonderful thing. I'd never come across 'amn't' before this thread and now I've noticed it at least twice in my current reading: Flann O'Brien's 'At Swim-two-birds' (originally published 1939).
"He sings a lot when he thinks I amn't listening."
"What's the matter, amn't I all right man?"
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journeyman
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I find that in South Carolina the black people say "ahnt" but others do not....why?????? In Indiana everyone I knew said "ant"...just local preference there I guess. I have noticed that on TV the black people are more apt to speak of their "ahnt" than "ant". I have always wondered why...it is a nicer sounding word to me.
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Paulb wrote : Wow, isn't serendipity a wonderful thing.
Oh, yes indeedy! You join a Board to talk about words and end up not merely enlightened but delighted to make so many new friends.
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