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Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2021 September 1

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September 1

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Isn't it?

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In the the English language it is not unusual to finish a statement with a question, such as, "It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" That's also used in phrases like "Lets go to the zoo, shan't we?". Does this construct have a grammatical or common name? Cheers, 202.87.166.165 (talk) 15:05, 1 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

It does, 202.87.166.165! It's a question tag. 70.67.193.176 (talk) 15:09, 1 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
That was fast! Obviously that wasn't too difficult, was it? At least not for you ;). Thank you very, very much! Cheers, 202.87.166.165 (talk) 15:15, 1 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Ha ha every now and then I luck out, don't I :) Cheers to you, 70.67.193.176 (talk) 15:45, 1 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
I've heard it frequently in America, but even more frequently among Brits, it seems. Kind of a conversation starter. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 17:10, 1 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
And in light of the "ain't" discussion earlier, I'm reminded of this line from the song "Alley Oop": "He sho' is hip, ain't he." ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 18:05, 1 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
English (but not all varieties) and the Celtic languages are apparently the only ones where the form of the tag question varies depending on the foregoing words, so that there are dozens of possible variants: wouldn't they, didn't she, haven't I, shouldn't they, won't you, etc (after a positive statement), and would they, did she, have I etc (after a negative statement). In French, n'est-ce pas is used for all these. That literally means "isn't it", and even in some varieties of English "isn't it" is always used. For example, Indian and Sri Lankan English. My partner, although an Australian citizen for the majority of his life and although English has always been his primary language, was born in Sri Lanka, and when we were first together I was occasionally befuddled by his "isn't it" when we had not been talking about any "it". More likely a person.
  • There'll only be 5 for lunch tomorrow.
  • But Carol's still coming, isn't it?.
  • Isn't what?
  • Carol.
  • Oh no, she called and cancelled. I thought I told you.
  • No. You forgot, isn't it?
  • Isn't what? ...... -- Jack of Oz [pleasantries] 20:41, 1 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
The use of "Innit" is quite common in many coloquial British dialects, as in "She was 20 minutes late, Innit?" -- Q Chris (talk) 10:07, 2 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Yet the same people never use the word "shwee", as in "Let's go to the zoo, shwee?", perhaps because they're afraid to sound stupid.  Card Zero  (talk) 14:18, 2 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
"Innit" was originally a feature of Multicultural London English [1] Alansplodge (talk) 16:11, 2 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
In literary Finnish, the tag question is usually a negotiation of the verb of the previous sentence:
  • Mutta Carol tulee silti, eikö tulekin? ("But Carol is still coming, isn't she coming?")
  • Ei. Unohdit, etkö unohtanutkin? ("No. You forgot, didn't you forget?")
However, this construct is hardly ever used in colloquial Finnish, people usually just say "vai mitä?" ("or what?") or simply "vai?" ("or?"). JIP | Talk 01:45, 2 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Jack's partner's "Carol's still coming, isn't it" reminds me of Welsh English. DuncanHill (talk) 02:09, 2 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, that's mentioned in Welsh English#Distinctive vocabulary and grammar. Alansplodge (talk) 16:07, 2 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
On Wikipedia, you can get smacked for referring to a person as "it". ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 16:37, 2 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Hit? (That was fine in Old English, but stopped being OK in Middle English.)  Card Zero  (talk) 17:12, 2 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
You could argue that "it" refers to the circumstance of "Carol still coming" rather than Carol herself, but I may be overthinking it (or her). Alansplodge (talk) 10:13, 3 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Carol's husband must be very proud of himself by now... --Jayron32 17:29, 3 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
So maybe an abbreviation for "isn't it so?" ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 23:30, 3 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Exactly. Alansplodge (talk) 08:50, 4 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
The grammar police pull over JackofOz for excessive punctuation, but let him off with a warning. Clarityfiend (talk) 08:07, 2 September 2021 (UTC) [reply]
We ain't got no damn punky-whatsits here. There's nobody here but us damn chickens. -- Jack of Oz [pleasantries] 23:47, 2 September 2021 (UTC) [reply]
And guillemots! Don't forget the guillemots. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.122.0.2 (talk) 15:06, 3 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
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