Innit

As some of you may know, “innit” is as common in London as “like” in New York or “totally” in San Francisco. Even though it seems as if it should always be an interrogative, it is often used as a declarative. We have a kind of a game amongst our expat friends, wherein we collect “innit”s and then compare them to see who got the best one. To wit, my recent entry of a woman to her female friend regarding an aisle endcap displaying jars of pickled veg at Sainsburys: “You like pickles innit” (this would be an example of the interrogative structure, although the tone was declarative). Anyhow, this one seems like the stuff of urban legend, but you be the judge.