Usage of Ain't?

Question

Do you use "ain't" a lot?
What kind of people use or not use this?
In what kind of situation do you use or not use this?
Does this sound bad or uneducated or something?

Answer 1

I use "isn't" instead of ain't, however I will sometimes use "ain't" to make a humorous point, or to underscore the seriousness of something.

For instance, if someone's trying to hammer in a screw with a hammer instead of a screwdriver, I'd look at them and say, "Dat' ain't gonna' work!".

Answer 2

As in:

'Ain't' ain't in the dictionary, so I ain't gonna use 'ain't' no more?

No, I don't use it a lot, and most people use it when joking, etc. Not too many are so uneducated that they think it is an appropriate slang for school, work, social gatherings, etc.

I might use it if someone tells me to do some type of physical labor that I am incapable of, i.e., Not me, I ain't gonna touch that with a ten-foot pole.

Answer 3

I think it sounds very uneducated and like your postal code directs your mail to Hicksville. I try to point this out to my students. I never hear ain't in the business world, mostly just from younger kids who've picked up the bad habit. I heard it a lot more when I lived in the South.

Answer 4

G'day,

Thank you for your question.

I use it occasionally for effect ie I ain't going nowhere or you ain't seen nothing yet.

It is a non standard contraction according to my version of the Collins dictionary. The correct usages are isn't, aren't and haven't. For this reason, I wouldn't use it in correspondence or formal conversation. However, it has been around since the 18th century and continues to be popular.

I have attached sources for your reference.

Regards

Answer 5

I have never used it in my life. It used to be polite usage of "is not" two hundred years ago, but has since deteriorated into being a word associated with less well educated people. It is not advisable to use it in any situation unless you happen to have been born to it. It is used in London and the London area and the South Eastern United States.

Answer 6

I think people sound pretty hmm well stupid when they say ain't. I don't use ain't. Rednecks and southerners use ain't
examples of aint:
That ain't true.
I ain't gonna do that.
Them people ain't know nothin.
seriously do you think those sentences look well thought out and like it was said by some one educated.
Dumb people use ain't and I think people sound dumb using it

Answer 7

Yes at times i do say aint. It is NOT proper english nor is it gramically correct. It sounds very uneducated and it is a habit i should break. It is more of a "slang" type of word and anyone can use it. I've heard adults and kids use it. You can be black, white, asian, mexican ect. and use this word it isnt labeled to one group. What ever the case we shoul all correct our grammer.

Answer 8

Being raised in the south I have had a lot of exposure to aint. I worked in a factory for eight years and I my vocabulary became pretty slang. Now my tendencies to use it are narrowed to when I'm angry. "He aint got no business borrowin' money from me, when I aint even got any!!!" Like I said, I only use it in the throes of anger.
I am college educated so I try to stay away from it and the dreaded double negatives.

Answer 9

It was a piece of Elizabethan English preserved in the isolated areas of Appalachia(Tennessee, North Carolina).
So yes it is considered as dialect and as reflecting poor education.

Answer 10

There is at least one place where "ain't" is the most appropriate choice: for "I am not" when used in a question or an exclamation. "Am I not?" is stilted, while "Aren't I?" strikes me as illiterate as "Ain't I?" strikes those who believe everything they were taught by schoolmarms.