Is it acceptable to say 'Ain't' when talking?

Question

(sings) Ain't no sunshine when she's gone...

If it's good enough for Bill Withers..

Answer 1

Bill Withers was singing, not talking.

You can use "ain't" if you'd like, but it makes you sound ignorant. Which is fine, until you interview for a job and "ain't" slips in because you use it regularly and it's become a habit. You really don't want to give the impression you're ignorant or uneducated on a job interview.

Answer 2

I do not like it when people say ain't all the time, I never say that word

Answer 3

Not when talking...Its not proper English but here in the south people use it as a regular word...If you do say it just do the little quotation hand sign! =D

Answer 4

I don't see a problem with it - normally. Personally, there ain't no reason why you shouldn't be able to :)

Answer 5

"Ain't" is not a word. It is slang and I choose not to use it. Instead use the proper term, isn't or aren't.

Answer 6

aint is in the dictionary now, making it a proper word. so there aint no reason not to say it.

Answer 7

I get snubbed for slipping and using it from time to time. Crazy ain't it! :)

Answer 8

Ain’t is a contraction originally just for “am not”, but now includes “is not”, “has not”, or “have not”. In some dialects it is also used as a contraction of “do not”, “does not”, and “did not”, as in I ain’t know that. The word is a perennial issue in English usage.

Contents [hide]
1 Controversy
2 Origin and Early Usage
3 Related Words and Usage
4 Examples
5 References



[edit] Controversy
Critics say frequent use of ain’t is a marker of basilectal — which is to say, “vulgate” or “common speech” . The same applies for using i’n’it (normally written as innit) instead of “isn’t it”. There is little justification for this judgment on etymological or grammatical grounds, but it remains a widespread belief that the word is “not a word” or “incorrect”.[1] However, a descriptive analysis of frequency statistics does make it perfectly justifiable to regard it as a colloquialism seldom found in formal writing.

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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]

Ain’t would solve one logical problem of English grammar; it would serve as a useful contracted inverted form in the question “Ain’t I?” Many prescriptivists prefer “Aren’t I” in this situation; this is illogical in conjugation (the Hiberno-English and Scottish English form Amn’t I? follows other patterns), and for speakers of non-rhotic accents may only be a baroque spelling of one possible pronunciation of the eighteenth century an’t. Ain’t is also obligatory in some fixed phrases, such as “Say it ain’t so” and “you ain’t seen nothing yet”. Though for the former, “Say it isn’t so” is also sometimes used. Under grammatical analysis of some dialects of nonstandard English, such as African-American vernacular English (AAVE), use of ain’t is in fact required in some conditions. In AAVE, ain’t is used as a substitute for hasn’t in certain past tenses. Thus, one would say “she ain’t called me” for “she hasn’t called me”.

Ain’t is also found to be a stereotyped word for most peoples from the south-eastern United States, and is commonly used in most casual conversational settings. Modern usage notes in dictionaries note that ain’t is used in a self-conscious way by some speakers and writers for a deliberate effect: what Oxford American Dictionary describes as “tongue-in-cheek” or “reverse snobbery”, and what Merriam-Webster Collegiate calls “emphatic effect” or “a consistently informal style”. An example of this effect would be “Ain’t ain’t a word ’cause it ain’t in the dictionary” or “Ain’t ain’t a word so I ain’t gonna say it”. Most usage writers continue to condemn use of the word in an unselfconscious way.


[edit] Origin and Early Usage
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, and indeed is still commonly used in some parts of England. 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,[2] 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.[3] 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.


[edit] Related Words and Usage
The related word hain’t is an archaic and non-standard 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. It is reminiscent of hae (have) in Lowland Scots.


[edit] Examples
Hall of Fame pitcher Dizzy Dean, who became a play-by-play broadcaster after his playing days ended, was chastised by critics for using that word on the air. His response has sometimes been quoted as, “A lot of folks who don’t say ‘ain’t’, ain’t eatin’ regular!” [1]
Lewis Carroll may or may not have been tweaking purists in his children’s book Through the Looking Glass, when the character Tweedledee says to Alice, “If it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic.”
“Say it ain’t so, Joe!”, reportedly said by a young baseball fan to Shoeless Joe Jackson after the fan learned about the Black Sox scandal involving throwing the 1919 World Series.
In the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, upon receiving his medal, the Cowardly Lion exclaims, “Look what it says: ‘Courage’. Ain’t it the truth, ain’t it the truth!”
The Hollywood Argyles’ 1960 novelty song Alley Oop, about the comic-strip caveman, contains the spoken comment, “He sho’ is hip, ain’t he!”
Christina Aguilera’s hit song “Ain’t No Other Man”.
Ain’t It Cool News, a media-based website created by Harry Knowles.
In 1980, the New Orleans Saints were called the Aints because of their losing season.
“It Ain’t Like That”, a song by Alice in Chains, is another example of the usage of ain’t in popular culture.
It Ain’t Half Hot Mum, a 1974 BBC comedy series charting the exploits of a Royal Artillery Concert Party—a theatrical troupe—based in India during the Second World War. Created by Jimmy Perry and David Croft.
“This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race”, a 2007 single released by Fall Out Boy.
In the American television series “Prison Break”, ain’t is often used by the convicts.
The popular song “Life During Wartime” by Talking Heads, includes the lyrics “this ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco, this ain’t no fooling around”.
"Ain't That Peculiar" and "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing", Number One singles for Motown artist Marvin Gaye.

Answer 9

depends on to whom you are speaking.

Answer 10

why not...?...aint nothing wrong with it...isn't it...lol