It Is Not (too hot to blog)

One reason why I write this blog is to experiment with organizing my thoughts and clearly communicating them in written form. This doesn't require that I have many (or any) readers, only that there is the potential for people to read what I write. Just knowing that is enough to give me the discipline to make the effort to write well. I often miss the mark, but then that's what makes this blog worthwhile: practice.

A common problem that any writer frequently encounters is finding the right word, or choosing among several possibilities. Among the many times I've dealt with this dilemma, there is one that for some reason gives me pause since I don't know what choice is best. It's a silly little thing, perfectly suited to a mid-summer blog post when the heat is affecting my ability to pay any attention at all to my blog. My problem is the common word sequence: it is not.

My problem is not that there are many other choices -- using the phrase is uncontroversial and has few true alternatives -- but rather with how it is typically contracted in ordinary speech. The phrase is shortened in one of two commonly used ways:

1. it's not
2. it isn't

There is actually a third -- it ain't -- which we can safely ignore since it isn't (it's not) considered good English. Even keeping to the first two possibilities, I often wonder which is best.

The first choice sounds a bit rude to my ear, yet, so far as I am able to notice and recall, it is the more popular choice. But since it appears to be more popular, perhaps I'm wrong to dismiss it. What I would really prefer is a third (or is it, fourth) choice that would supersede the others.

The contraction I'm leaning toward is an admittedly peculiar one, although it has seen usage in poetry and other works. This contraction is tisn't. Of course there is the matter of unfamiliarity that makes it seem inappropriate, and there is some variation with the use of apostrophes -- t'isn't, 'tisn't -- which is true of any neologism or resurrection of an old word that had passed into disuse. On the plus side it removes the ambiguity of choice, and even comes with its own corrupt version: tain't.

On the other hand, if this is the sort of thing I'm worried about maybe I'm better off taking a blogging vacation. But not just yet.