Cain't

Subject: Cain't
From: mayomick
Date: 12 May 15 - 02:37 PM

"I was raised in the canebrake by an ol' mama lion
Cain't no-a high-toned woman make me walk the line"


Does anyone know if the slang "cain't" ,as used in Tennessee Ernie Ford's Sixteen Tons,is still used? It's presumably a mix between "can't" and "ain't".

Subject: RE: Cain't
From: maeve
Date: 12 May 15 - 02:48 PM

Yes, it's still used in various Southern USA regional accents- simply a colloquial pronunciation and spelling of can't/ cannot.

Maeve

Subject: RE: Cain't
From: Richie
Date: 12 May 15 - 02:58 PM

Barbra Allen - As sung by Melvin Winkle, Mountain View, Arkansas on August 26, 1969.

Listen: http://maxhunter.missouristate.edu/songinformation.aspx?ID=0835

VERSE 3: And when she went by his dying bed,
She saw his pale lips quiverin';
And no better I'll ever be,
If I cain't get Barbra Allen."

Richie

Subject: RE: Cain't
From: mayomick
Date: 12 May 15 - 02:59 PM

Thanks Maeve.

Subject: RE: Cain't
From: michaelr
Date: 12 May 15 - 03:15 PM

I remember my stepson's (who was about 3 at the time, growing up in Georgia) plaintive cry, "Hailp! I cain't find my paints!"

Subject: RE: Cain't
From: Lighter
Date: 12 May 15 - 03:16 PM

"Cain't" is the everyday pronunciation (more or less) for millions in the mountain South.

Subject: RE: Cain't
From: GUEST,Wireharp
Date: 12 May 15 - 03:41 PM

Bless their hearts....
:)

(My Carolina friends 'been teachig this Yankee to talk Southern)

Subject: RE: Cain't
From: wysiwyg
Date: 13 May 15 - 05:48 AM

Also "Hain't."

~S~

Subject: RE: Cain't
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 13 May 15 - 07:21 AM

South Wales valleys pronunciation of 'can' is 'cun'.
Users still manage to pronounce 'can't' properly though!