"Ain't" ain't a word, or is it?

[Orson Welles]

It may be a word, but I still avoid using "ain't" in formal writing.  

[[-True Illusion-]]

I say ain't quite a bit...I say ya'll too...But that's only when speaking. It's just easier to type correctly.  

[Obito Sharingan Uchiha]

Well, kinda, well, hard to say, mabe?
Well, I dunno, but I say "dunno", and it's not really an orginal Englsih word either.  

[Sarla-chan]

I don't consider it an actual word...but is fun to say sometimes sweatdrop  

[Emmanuela]

I can't actually remember the last time I said 'ain't', it' just the way I speak really. I agree that it is a word as it's used so commonly etc. but I just never use it. What is funny though is when the less educated say it but not realise its contradictive meaning (does that make sense?) so end up saying 'I ain't done nothing', a girl in my art class always says that, it's so funny!

I generally try to not use slang, primarily to keep correct English in use so it does nt get overwhelmed by slang, but also to because I've just been brought up to speak it correctly and not use slang.  

[Kohy]

Coming from a small country in the middle of the Caribbean, I have seen a lot of different 'slangs' being brought about the younger generation, more so my own generation, being a teenager.

But if it's one thing that I have barely seen or heard in my life is the use of "ain't". Unbelievably to me, I realise this is one of these things that children down here just do not say. Maybe it has something to do with where we're from, or from our parents, but no. "Ain't" is not commonly used among the locals.

Now I have heard the words a few times from some of those really Southern movies and I believe it is more nationally used around these states. Yet, although I would hear it, I would not go using it in an essay or in real life.

Yes, I am a user of "don't", "won't", or "hasn't" and "can't", with a long list of others, as I find it easier when talking to friends online or in real life, also since these contractions seem to me, more believable from the two words they have been extracted from. But down here, and I'm sure for a lot of other places, contractions are not allowed in essays. It's consided bad grammar and frowned upon from teachers, and they are an easy excuse to have points deducted from an essay you have written. It is allowed however in a quotation or when inside inverted commas when writting something that someone particularly said.

Example: "Don't do that!" Jennifer said, giving her younger brother a slap on the hand.  

[talkintree]

This is a touchy topic for discussion.
I don't like using it. I think it sounds like slang.  

[AdiGallia]

In the book of Southern language, "ain't" is a word. ^^ I use it all the time. I use "y'all" more often, but I do use "ain't" quite a bit.

I don't tend to use it much when I'm on the Internet, though.

I usually use it when I'm really indignant, like, "That ain't right!"

I don't have that strong of an accent (most of the time >_<), but "ain't" is a very common word here, and it just kind of stuck on me.