A comment on the What Do Descriptivists Teach Their Children thread lead me to think: Will I practice what I preach with my children? Will I indeed teach them (once they’re at an age to grasp this) that “ain’t” is simply something that one would be wise not to use — for fear of being perceived as ill-educated — or will I break down and just insist that it’s wrong, wrong, wrong?
I like to think that I’ll teach my kids the truth as I see it — but in addition to the intellectual and moral reasons to do this, I have a more practical one: My views on “ain’t” are now online. One day my boys will be able to look for them. And I can’t afford to say anything that the results of a search for site:volokh.com “ain’t” will contradict.