"Ain't"

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"Ain't" was originally a contraction of "am not". And then sometime people started using "ain't" incorrectly where it didn't contract "am not" and the word became stigmatized.

That basically it.

Maybe its time for us all to "reclaim ain't".

I read once that in Cornwall in England they also contract "be" with "not" and say "b'ain't".

Tell me 'tain't so!

I believe "ain't" became substandard in Victorian days. I'll have to research the reason for this.

Just like "cockroach" was shortened to "roach" because of the sexual connotation of "cock."

That cain't be true! While we main't use 'ain't' as it was originally used, tain't any reason not to.

So ain't has a taint, and use it we cain't?

It's considered a "standard, proper" word in Webster's Dictionary.

There is still a stigma attached to it though---especially as it relates to the "educational" or "social" level of the person uttering "ain't."

Why do people getting away with swearing all the time but saying ain't will make people faint?!?

Once when I was a teenager, I used the word ain't in front of my mom and my brother, and they were both shocked. Even though my mother had just said it, go figure. But I don't normally say it in everyday conversation, so maybe that was it.

The first time I said, "Oh, man!" in front of my father, he went ballistic and grounded me for a week because he said I was 'swearing'. This was back in the 1960s, by the way.

It turns out that he had been working on a construction project with some fine, upstanding young men of African descent, and their favorite expletive was "Oh, man!". They also used the word 'ain't' a lot.

Y'see ... my dad was a bigot, and he didn't like having to work with "... those lazy, good-for-nothing <n-word>s"; especially that they were non-union and "... stealing jobs away..." from his friends.

(His words in quotes.)

^ People have some real winners for parents on this site. And by winners I means losers who usually "win".