If ain't ain't a word then why is it used so often in the English language?

Answer 1

Ain't is a word. It is a contraction of Am Not. Most people just use it in the wrong context.

Answer 2

Ain't arose toward the end of an eighteenth century period that marked the development of most of the English contracted verb forms such as can't, don't, and won't. The form first appears in print in 1778. It was preceded by an't, which had been common for about a century previously. An't appears first in print in the work of Restoration playwrights: it is seen first in 1695, when William Congreve wrote I can hear you farther off, I an't deaf, suggesting that the form was in the beginning a contraction of "am not". But as early as 1696 Sir John Vanbrugh uses the form for "are not": These shoes an't ugly, but they don't fit me. At least in some dialects, an't is likely to have been pronounced like ain't, and thus the appearance of ain't is more a clarified spelling than a new verb form; in some dialects of British English, are rhymed with air, and a 1791 American spelling reformer proposed spelling "are" as er. Ain't in these earliest uses seems to have served as a contraction for both am not and are not.

During the nineteenth century, with the rise of prescriptivist usage writers, ain't fell under attack. The attack came on two fronts: usage writers did not know or pretended not to know what ain't was a contraction of, and its use was condemned as a vulgarism — a part of speech used by the lower classes. Perhaps partly as a reaction to this trend, the number of situations in which ain't was used began to expand: some speakers began to use ain't in place of is not, have not, and has not.The related word hain't is an archaic and very nonstandard contraction meaning has not or have not. It can be found in literature, particularly in Mark Twain's stories such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Answer 3

Teachers used to tell kids they could not say "ain't" because ain't wasn't a word. They would point to the classroom dictionaries as proof. School dictionaries lacked a lot of words students were not supposed to use. A scholarly dictionary, in contrast, is written to inform rather than prescribe, to tell you what is rather than what someone thinks should be. It is use makes a word a word. Real dictionaries reflect usage, not dictate it. What educated teachers now say is that unless it is used humorously, ain't is often perceived as a marker of ignorance or low status. Do not use it in your college or employment applications.
You also asked why it is used so often. That, I think, is because there is no real substitute. We can say, "isn't" for "is not;" "aren't" for "are not", etc., but when it comes to am, there is no contraction for "am not" other than "I ain't."

Answer 4

Languages constantly evolve, with new words being added all the time. Ain't didn't used to be considered proper English, but that doesn't make it any less a word (a contraction, in this case). A word is something people use to express an idea, and many people use it.

Answer 5

Because ain't isn't a word... It's considered slang.. I'm from the south and I say "yall" which means you all, but that ain't in the dictionary either... I know it makes no sense, that's why people say that english is the hardest language, cause half of it ain't even real "proper" words..

Answer 6

THe use of "ain't" and similar slang can be very effective, but only if you are using it for "impact." Like people who use the "f" word too much, using "ain't" too much (like more than once a week) is overuse. However, if you have a reputation for speaking correctly ... if your listener expects correct, standard English, then dropping in an "ain't" for emphasis can be very effective. Winston Churchill used "ain't" from time to time, to shock his listeners.
The key here is to use it very sparingly. Like strong spices, slang should not be used to the extent that it becomes THE FLAVOR of your speech, but only so much that it remains a SPICE.
Cheers.

Answer 7

Actually, I think that "ain't" was accepted as a word into the last revision of the webster dictionary. So, "ain't" is a word. Maybe it is not one you should use in well educated or otherwise snooty circles, but a word nonetheless.

Answer 8

ain't is a word.People say it isnt because before modern times when slag is spoken so often that it is permitted as actual words, it wasnt a word.But now days most slang words get into dictionarys because they are used more than the real word they are modeled after.

Answer 9

"Ain't" is a slang word, not proper English, because it does not have a definite meaning apart from its context. Many dictionaries include "ain't."

Answer 10

There is only one correct way to use the word ain't. No one knows how to use it properly and people are not teaching their children how to speak and write grammatically correct so it is misused all of the time.