innit.

[Abdulmajid]

When did this become a popular vernacular amongst the lower classes?

No doubt hyped by Catherine Tate and Vicky Pollard, they surely didn't invent it.

I am from London and occasionally used public transport whereby I was forced to mingle with poor people. Yet whilst I recall such dialectic bunkum such as "Right" at the end of each sentence often appended by "Know what I mean", I do not believe I ever actually heard the quite charming "Innit" said with such popularity nowadays.

Perhaps this is a case for "Balderdash and Piffle" but I don't fink they will do it. Innit.

Any ideas?

Thank you.

[roxanneh]

This has been around for as long as i can remember but it is in use more these days, its another way obviously of saying isn't it. which has also come from the need for people to say right and know what i mean.its a way to gain the understanding of whether or not the person you are talking to agrees with what you are saying.
You may find this offensive, however saying that you have to mix with "poor people" its just what makes people act as they are treated and using words like init, and therefore soon upperclass people won't be able to tell what the "poor people" are saying.

[Abdulmajid]

I would not say I am offended by it.

[factor-fiction]

'Innit' was used widely by young people, particularly in English speaking Asian communities I noticed, around 5 years ago.

It wasn't just used to mean ISN'T IT- it was regularly used in circumstances where previously people said 'you know' or 'right' or 'like' and often just tagged onto the end of sentences in a random way.

It seems less prevelant now- or maybe I just don't notice it now

[Quizmonster]

The earliest recorded use of innit was in a book called Blood and Judgment<./i> by M Gilbert, published in 1959. Of course, it may well have been around in speech before then.

[Quizmonster]

Oh, dear! My apologies for the over-italicisation.

[fredpuli47]

Nothing really new, in a sense. Welsh people are still fond of saying 'isn't it' at the end of their sentences. It's a translation of Welsh, where the equivalent of 'isn't it' is used for emphasis, as we might use 'certainly, 'definitely,' or 'indeed', rather than as a simple interrogative. In Welsh it sounds like 'oddi-var', so, at a guess, it's written 'o d'y fa '. Welsh speakers using English sometimes use the Welsh words rather than 'isn't it' .

'Innit' itself is often used for emphasis rather than as a straight interrogative, like' indeed ' or the rhetorical 'don't you agree/think?'.

[dave2297]

The phrase that makes me cringe is 'at the end of the day' - and it seems to be being used more frequently than ever.

What a ridiculous thing to say - unless, of course, you're talking about the evening!

[jno]

Indians in India (speaking in English) sometimes say 'isn't it' in the same way. I imagine it's short for 'isn't it true?' or something similar- in other words, the same meaning as 'right?' or 'yeah?', but without the rising intonation that denotes a question. Nonetheless, it in effect still a question; it's more that the speaker doesn't care whether you answer it or not.

[Panic Button]

I first became aware of it from Harry Enfield's 'Stavros' character in the kebab shop.