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Grammaristocracy: 'Ain't''s in the Dictionary, Ain't It?!
My 9th Grade English teacher Mr. Brooks had a deep baritone voice; he walked with a steady purposeful attitude; his smile was as big as could be. Mr. Brooks loved his students with a huge heart. However, he never messed with no sass or trouble or rule-breaking. And he was a stickler for the rules.
Nows, I 'member one time we were having an important debate in class over whether we all could use the word 'ain't'. Now, bein' where I'm from 'ain't' just ain't some random colloquialism. 'Ain't' is a religion. Along with many other twangy, ghetto, run-down, ole-school, country-livin', all-colorful language which makes my people who my people is. (oh... 'whom' my people is, sorry)
Now, Mr. Brooks wasn't havin' none of this debate. He said 'ain't' IS NOT a proper word. I tried to argue with what I thought was the clearly right answer back: "'Ain't''s in the dictionary, ain't it? Well, ain't it?!"
That's when he told me that the dictionary was full of improper words that were often used in conversation but were not proper language for English.
Well, I ain't never had no use for rules. Why cain't we all just get along and be happy with lovin' one another with whos we is and not whos we tryings to be all the time? I never ain't had no use for none of that high and mighty highfalutin' rigamarole with peoples trying to pretend theys better than me or others just cuz the way we talk, or write, or live.
But as I grew up, I have learned that sometimes the rules of grammar are not really there to hurt me. I figured out that the rules can be there to guide me in to being heard and fully understood in the larger world of global communication. This allows us all logically to communicate in one understandable form.
This don't mean I ain't one for bendin' and breakin' a rule a time or two. And rules need to sometimes be broken. But it is important for one to note the setting within which one is-- not to stifle my creativity or independence, but to guarantee further understanding and growth. And if I'm in a setting where 'ain't' is the rule of the conversation, then I ain't gonna be stoppin' myself from lovin' my ain't's. And, well, sometimes, even when I ain't in the right setting I still likes to speak mys mind the ways I likes to do.
We Queers love to break rules. In fact, much of our existence is about breakin' and bendin' over... um, rules. And we ain't wrong to break 'em when they're wrong. We are not wrong to live our lives as we are. We are just as right as anyone else living their lives they way they are. There just have unfortunately been many centuries of anti-Queer laws put on the books by anti-Queer authorities who want to say we're wrong. And the tyranny of the majority has kept our full lives from being part of the rule-making.
However, unlike the tyranny of the grammaristocracy who put together the grammar rules many centuries ago as well; social, political and legal rules are mighty different. Frankly, bendin' our society's conventions are often the only way to live our lives and to be heard and seen.
Now that we are suddenly in the midst of joining in the rule-making by having open-LGBT politicians we are finding new ways to allow for our lives to be lived as they are- through legislation supporting marriage equality and other supportive measures. And we can show how the old imperial rules hurt us, and help those in the majority recognize that we need to be heard as we are, not just through the lens of the majority.
And ain't that they way it should be?
