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Home > Phrases & Sayings > why is won't apostrophied?

why is won't apostrophied?

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bednobs | 15:59 Sat 25th Feb 2012 | Phrases & Sayings
22 Answers
well why? if the apostrophe is meant as a replacement for a letter that is not there (as in other words like can't) then what are the full words supposed to be? wo not? why isn't the word willn't?
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Avatar Image lcg
you have far too much time on your hands! if it's a smaller person asking, you just have to say....it just is!!! ;p x
16:01 Sat 25th Feb 2012
Avatar Image bednobs
Question Author
no it's me asking (although i'm only 5 foot 2 inches)
16:02 Sat 25th Feb 2012
-- answer removed --
Avatar Image jno
the standard form used to be "I woll not" (You can see several examples of this in old writing if you google it), so it turned into "won't". In the second and third person it was "you will not" and "she will not" but the "won't" abbreviation became attached to them too.
16:04 Sat 25th Feb 2012
Avatar Image lcg
pmsl! i'm 5'2'' as well although mr kicker makes up for it (he's 6'4''). perhaps the person who invented the word just wanted to screw with people's heads and make them wonder about it? or... the 'o' represents the other bits missed out. either way, it's just one more example that the english language is completely cuckoo in origin and expression.
16:06 Sat 25th Feb 2012
Avatar Image Alan360
It's like when the apostrophe is on the other side of the s. Is is something to do with singular and plural versions?
16:06 Sat 25th Feb 2012
Avatar Image bednobs
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it's not really like that though alan
16:08 Sat 25th Feb 2012
Avatar Image jno
the commonest words are the ones most likely to have odd variations. Go, Be, Have, Will and so on.

In fact Go is two different words: in the present tense it's Go but the past tense is Went. That was really the past tense of Wend (as in "he wends his way home") but somehow the two got melded.
16:09 Sat 25th Feb 2012
Avatar Image Alan360
bedknobs, excuse my lack of knowledge.
16:12 Sat 25th Feb 2012
Avatar Image karenmac60
Bo'ness is really Borrowstounness. Not connected, but quite interesting :)
16:17 Sat 25th Feb 2012
Avatar Image factor-fiction
It's bednobs not bedknobs, alan. Reminds me of the pster who always called me 'fuctor'
16:19 Sat 25th Feb 2012
Avatar Image factor-fiction
poster, not pster!
16:19 Sat 25th Feb 2012
Avatar Image jno
keyboards get so sticky in old age, factor
16:21 Sat 25th Feb 2012
Avatar Image boxtops
I recall in ye ancient past, people would write wo'n't, and sha'n't - which looks odd nowadays, but makes more sense if you follow the rules.
16:23 Sat 25th Feb 2012
Avatar Image factor-fiction
I'm not sure of how the word AINT was formed either and why it has no apostrophe
16:24 Sat 25th Feb 2012
Avatar Image heathfield
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ain%27t
19:13 Sat 25th Feb 2012
Avatar Image MarkRae
Ain't does have an apostrophe.
19:15 Sat 25th Feb 2012
Avatar Image craft1948
Doesn't the word 'wont' without an apostrophe mean something else?
19:18 Sat 25th Feb 2012
Avatar Image boxtops
.. nor does "innit", which I'm sure will be in the dictionary soon (if it's not already).
19:18 Sat 25th Feb 2012
Avatar Image boxtops
Yes, it is my wont to do this... but then you pronounce it W-ON-T, whereas won't is woant.
19:19 Sat 25th Feb 2012

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