"Hainna Hainna, I'm from Scranton Pennsylvania!" Topic

Every now and then, I throw in a local word, "hainna". It has various spellings. Haina, Heyna, etc.
It used to be used a lot by the locals, and recently, Kids Today tried to avoid it, since it was so low class, reminiscent of our immigrant past. They felt it was beneath them to speak like their parents. 8^(

Here is a satiric example:
YouTube link

I have heard several theories. One is that the local Italian immigrants used it as a simplified "ain't it?" This is a double slur, since "ain't" is supposed to be low brow, and "after all, they are only Italians"… (But Flashman uses it!) I once read that "ain't" was supposed to be rejected, since no one ever used it correctly.

Hainna is usually used to seek approval from the listener of a "fact" that is in contention. Example: "Bricoles were invented by the Austrians, hainna?"

My own theory is that it comes from the Pennsylvania Dutch. "Hein?" fills that need in German.
I also find it equivalent to the French "N'est-ce pas?"

What floored me over the weekend was a back channel PM from one of the few TMPers who is currently talking to me. He pointed out to me that "hain na" is Hindi for "Isn't it?" Good Grief! Irish, Polish and Italian immigrants in good ole Nort'East PA use a Hindi phrase in our local patois!

Do they still classify languages as "Indo European", or is that a Victorian relic? If it is still fashionable, I may as well go for my PhF in linguistics on "hainna".
Are there Spanish or Iranian similar constructions? How about Finnish, which is officially not in the IE language club? Hungarian? Russian?

"Do they still classify languages as "Indo European", or is that a Victorian relic?"

tinyurl.com/3cc4phg

Allen

John, I always knew you were a brother. Only an Indian could be that grumpy for that long, hainna?

Grumpiness may be as universal as "Hainna?"

Thanks for the video.

"Only an Indian could be that grumpy for that long, hainna?"

Pshht. You should see Deepak Chopra when he's had a few rounds of Sex on the Beach. Man, nothing's right with the world *then*.

Allen

Allen, don't deny your Punjabi roots bhaisahib!

Wait, are we talking dot or feather?

Dot.

Y'all ain't frum aroun' he-yuh, are ye? Yew tawk funny.

"Soor Kabaj – Hai, Soor Kabaj!"

Pat

Finnish & Magyar are Ugro-Finnic, the other odd one out is Basque. And our Hungarian friends will tell you it's pronounced Modjerro. Pretty sure the bleeopomatic wouldn't recognise most of my vocabulary. Could also do some passable Calabrese and a tiny bit of Middle Persian.