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I ain't heard no word to let me know you wasn't just eating hay.

Should the wasn't be weren't?

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A farm woman, at the end of a heavy day's work, set before her menfolks a heaping pile of hay. And when they indignantly demanded whether she had gone crazy, she replied: "Why, how did I know you'd notice? I've been cooking for you men for the last twenty years and in all that time I ain't heard no word to let me know you wasn't just eating hay." – z7sg Ѫ May 10 '11 at 11:18
Is this a lyric? – UpTheCreek May 10 '11 at 12:33

1 Answer

up vote 7 down vote accepted

In normal, formal English the sentence would be rendered:

I haven't heard any word to let me know you weren't just eating hay.

But in rural vernacular, the sentence is fine as it stands. It's how some people talk in America. Such people are sometimes called "hayseeds" — especially if they eat hay (which is extremely unlikely, as hay is fodder for horses and farm animals). From NOAD:

hayseed |ˈhāˌsēd| noun 2 informal a person from the country, esp. a simple, unsophisticated one.

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I believe the preferred term is "Appalachian-American" – mgb May 10 '11 at 16:03

protected by tchrist Oct 2 '12 at 18:24

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