# If it ain't broke... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 3, 2000, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-aint-broke/9784 "2000-03-03T03:49:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![unglued](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/2acd7d/32.png) [@unglued](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unglued)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2000, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-aint-broke/9784/1 "2000-03-03T03:49:00Z")
(I don’t know if I should post this topic here or on the Great Debates) What’s wrong with the word ain’t? Sure, English purists hate this word but everyone I know have used this word at one time. Some authorities in english usage have already accepted this word for informal use yet the debate continues. What do you people think? ---
**Author:** ![bizerta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@bizerta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizerta)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2000, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-aint-broke/9784/2 "2000-03-03T04:09:00Z")
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And the beholders of the English language have determined that “ain’t” ain’t a proper word. There’s nothing to keep you from using it. However, if I received a resume with the word “ain’t” on it, I would assume that the person is uneducated. So use it,if you want, but what you use determines what people think of you. ---
**Author:** ![justwannano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ab992/32.png) [@justwannano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justwannano)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2000, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-aint-broke/9784/3 "2000-03-03T04:22:00Z")
I kind of like the word myself. If I remember correctly it is the conjunction for …A…WEll …Ammmm ain’t. Is 'ain’t got no" a double negitive? Probably not because ain’t ain’t no word. Don’t listen to all these old stuffed shirts. It has its place. ---
**Author:** ![justwannano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ab992/32.png) [@justwannano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justwannano)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2000, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-aint-broke/9784/4 "2000-03-03T04:36:00Z")
There I go tripping over my own tongue again.Guess I’ll leave being funny to someone else. Guess it is the contraction of am not:O :o :o :o ---
**Author:** ![Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilgore_Trout_1)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2000, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-aint-broke/9784/5 "2000-03-03T06:15:00Z")
from _New Dictionary_ by Kurt Vonnegut: * * * To find out in a rush whether a dictionary is prescriptive or descriptive, you look up _ain’t_ and _like_. I learned this trick of horseback logomachy from reviews of the “Merriam-Webster” third edition. And here is the rundown on _ain’t:_ the “Merriam-Webster” first edition says that it is colloquial or illiterate, the second says it is dialect or illiterate, and the third says that _ain’t_ is, “though disapproved by many and more common in less educated speech, used orally . . . by many cultivated speakers esp. in the phrase _ain’t I._” I submit that this nation is so uniformly populated by parvenus with the heebie-jeebies that the phrase _ain’t I_ is heard about as frequently as the mating cry of the heath hen. ``` Random House says this about *ain't:* "*Ain't* is so traditionally and widely regarded as a nonstandard form that it should be shunned by all who prefer to avoid being considered illiterate. *Ain't* occurs occasionally in the informal speech of some educated users, especially in self-consciously (sic) or folksy or humourous contexts *(Ain't it the truth! She ain't what she used to be!)*, but it is completely unacceptable in formal writing and speech. Although the expression *ain't I* is perhaps defensible--and it is considered more logical than *aren't I?* and more euphonious than *amn't I?*--the well-advised person will avoid any use of *ain't.*" How's that for advice to parvenus? My mother isn't mentioned, but what she taught me to say in place of *ain't I?* or *amn't I?* was *am I not?* Speed isn't everything. So I lose a micro-second here and there. The main thing is to be a *graceful* parvenu. ``` * * * * * * _what is essential is invisible to the eye -the fox_ ---
**Author:** ![NanoByte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2000, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-aint-broke/9784/6 "2000-03-03T08:12:00Z")
Your verbiage should never be taint By anything soundin’ like ‘ain’t’. Or the air waves’ll all’ve deignt, To cause the ladies to faint. And you’ll never get writ up a saint. Ray (Do that? I r’ally cain’t.) ---
**Author:** ![ASPA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b19c9b/32.png) [@ASPA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASPA)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2000, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-aint-broke/9784/7 "2000-03-15T04:36:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by unglued: > **( > What’s wrong with the word ain’t? What do you people think?** The phrase “you people” is more abhorant to us purists than is the word “ain’t.” Actually, grammarians used to accept the usage of “ain’t” as standard; it began as a conjunction of “are not.” I hope you ain’ gonna continue to say “you people,” though. See, the proper phrase is, “you peopleS.” ---
**Author:** ![cmetzb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@cmetzb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmetzb)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2000, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-aint-broke/9784/8 "2000-03-15T22:17:00Z")
If it ain’t broke… …you’re not trying Red Green ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2000, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-aint-broke/9784/9 "2000-03-15T22:44:00Z")
**ASPA** - “abhorant”??? For a purist, you don’t spell so well. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2000, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-aint-broke/9784/10 "2000-03-15T22:50:00Z")
How 'bout one more pedant? **conjunction?** I think, “ain’t” is a contraction, not a conjunction. ---
**Author:** ![ASPA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b19c9b/32.png) [@ASPA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASPA)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2000, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-aint-broke/9784/11 "2000-04-04T08:17:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by ASPA: > the proper phrase is, “you peopleS.” or, formally: You’ze people ---
**Author:** ![ASPA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b19c9b/32.png) [@ASPA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASPA)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2000, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-aint-broke/9784/12 "2000-04-04T08:19:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by UncleBeer: > **How 'bout one more pedant? > conjunction? > I think, “ain’t” is a contraction, not a conjunction.** Yes, exactly. It’d be a contraction. Please file my retraction. ---
**Author:** ![ASPA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b19c9b/32.png) [@ASPA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASPA)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2000, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-aint-broke/9784/13 "2000-04-04T08:22:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by spoke-: > **ASPA- > “abhorant”??? > For a purist, you don’t spell so well. 😉** Broken spelling? Cmetzb comes to my moral defense, in the posting just above your original. (See above.) ---
**Author:** ![earendel1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c68b51/32.png) [@earendel1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/earendel1)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2000, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-aint-broke/9784/14 "2000-04-04T12:39:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by justwannano: > **There I go tripping over my own tongue again.Guess I’ll leave being funny to someone else. Guess it is the contraction of am not.** I believe that’s correct. It’s funny that in English we have contractions for the second person form of “to be” with the negative (you aren’t), and the third person (she isn’t), but nothing for the first person. Perhaps “ain’t” was developed to make up for this lack, since it sounds better than “amn’t”. ---
**Author:** ![Andy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aeb1de/32.png) [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2000, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-aint-broke/9784/15 "2000-04-04T12:47:00Z")
Mjollnir asked this a while ago [here.](http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/004953.html) ---
**Author:** ![johnson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@johnson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnson)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2000, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-aint-broke/9784/16 "2000-04-05T02:30:00Z")
Actually, the Scots (if not the British) do use “amn’t,” instead of “aren’t”, I believe…as in “I’m right, amn’t I?” ---
**Author:** ![Andy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aeb1de/32.png) [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2000, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-aint-broke/9784/17 "2000-04-05T19:17:00Z")
I’ve never heard that in England, nor scotland for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![johnson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@johnson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnson)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2000, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-aint-broke/9784/18 "2000-04-05T23:42:00Z")
I did numerous times, and had several discussions about it. None of the other Scots raised an eyebrow. See it in letters, too. They could be pulling my leg, but it’s doubtful, since they’re in two different cliques.