I use semicolons in the 'new' way: not only for contrasting clauses, but also for closely-related ones. But I do insist on the clauses being pretty closely related. If I had the time, I would haul some out of stuff I have written and do some data work, but ... well, I don't have the time ... :( I don't accept any old use of semicolons in student work. Most students use them where colons are called for, anyway. My impression is that few students use them at clause boundaries. I think I also use the dash in unusual ways, but I haven't thought about it. As to 'ain't', it was certainly acceptable in certain social contexts in upper-class British English early in this century; I don't think it will become acceptable for a long time, though, unless the public suddenly has a linguistic epiphany. This seems unlikely. (anybody notice that semicolon in the above paragraph?? NOT intentional!) As for 'like', I think it already _is_ standard usage. Let's all watch for it in the big newspapers and magazines. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Johanna Rubba Assistant Professor, Linguistics ~ English Department, California Polytechnic State University ~ San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 ~ Tel. (805)-756-2184 E-mail: [log in to unmask] ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~