Three contractions in English that don’t follow the rules

Funny contractions in English

A contraction is a combination of two words in English, separated with an apostrophe.

“You’re” is short for “you are.”

“Haven’t” is short for “have not.”

But there are a few contractions in English that are not combinations of two words. The ones we’ll talk about today are “ma’am,” “o’clock,” and “ain’t.”

Ma’am

Let’s start with “ma’am.” Ma’am is spelled, m-a apostrophe a-m. Unlike other contractions, ma’am doesn’t connect or combine two words—it only shortens one word. It’s short for “madame,” which comes from French.

“Ma’am” is a formal way to address a woman. It’s the female equivalent of the word “sir.” This can often be considered polite and respectful, but it always implies an emotional distance between two people.

A police office might say, “Step out of the car please, ma’am.” A customer service agent might say, “Can I help you, ma’am?”

But I would caution you against using “ma’am” unless you’re sure it’s appropriate. Some people might think that you’re calling them old if you use that term. And you never use “ma’am” with someone you already know.

But if you see a woman drop a pair of gloves on the street, you might pick them up and say, “Ma’am, are these your gloves?”

O’clock

Next is one of the funniest words in English. I dare you to find me a funnier word! The word is “o’clock.” It’s o, apostrophe, and the word clock. “O’clock.” It’s six o’clock, means six hours after midnight. It’s nine o’clock means it’s three hours before noon, et cetera.

O’clock is funny for a few reasons. First, it’s not a contraction of words we would use today. But it is a contraction.

The origin of “o’clock” goes back to the early days of mechanical timekeeping. Before mechanical clocks, people kept time with sundials, hourglasses, and church bells—all of which were imprecise. So when people first started referring to the time kept by mechanical clocks, they needed a way to specify that, when they said “five,” they meant “five, as told by a mechanical clock.”

So in the 14th and 15th centuries, people in English began to say “five of the clock.” By the 1500s, it was shortened to “o’clock” in informal speech. By about the 1600s, “o’clock” was the standard way to describe the time—and we still use it today.

Most languages simply say “hour,” translated literally “it is one hour” or “they are two hours.” Or simply, “it is two” or “it is one.” Only English, Welsh, and Gaelic use a term like “o’clock” in timekeeping.

Ain’t

Finally, “ain’t.”

“Ain’t” is a tricky word. It’s spelled a-i-n, apostrophe, t. Ain’t.

In school, kids learn that that “ain’t” isn’t correct and shouldn’t be used. It’s not a swear word; it’s not profanity. It’s in the dictionary, and some adults use it. And yet, we learned that we shouldn’t use it. What’s the story?

In conversation, “ain’t” is a way of making a sentence negative. “He ain’t coming back home” means “he is not coming back home.” “She ain’t from around here” means, “she is not from around here.”

Almost every native English speaker will understand what “ain’t” means. But this is a very unusual word. It’s one of the few words that is common in daily speech, and yet is frequently criticized by authority figures like teachers and grammar experts.

Most authority figures in language say you shouldn’t use the word “ain’t.” Dictionaries call it “nonstandard.” Teachers tell you not to use it.

You won’t see it in formal writing, and it rarely appears in publications like newspapers, nonfiction books, or journal articles—unless the subject is dialects or language.

There is a stigma to the word “ain’t.” Many people say it’s wrong or incorrect to use. Some people believe that using “ain’t” is a marker of low education.

In my opinion, this is a bit harsh. I personally never use it. But some people do use the word “ain’t” in casual conversation and you often hear it in creative work like song lyrics, movies, and works of fiction. And there are some dialects that use “ain’t” without any stigma at all.

You can use “ain’t” for effect. People sometimes purposely use “ain’t” just to grab attention. “That ain’t bad” is a common way of saying, “that’s not bad,” even among people who know and respect the rules of grammar. “Ain’t” is even part of a common English saying: “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

So, “ain’t” is not all bad. Still, my advice to you is that you should not use “ain’t” unless you really know what you’re doing. Standard English is hard enough without having to learn how to use the nonstandard words!

Jeff’s take

I’ll never forget one day. I was probably nine or ten years old. Someone in my classroom had found the word “ain’t” in the dictionary. There was chaos in the classroom; our teachers, our parents, every adult in our lives had told us that “ain’t” is not a word and that we should never use it. It should never, ever, ever cross our lips. And then one kid found “ain’t” in the dictionary. Here was proof that all the grown-ups in our lives had been lying to us the whole time.

Our teacher was forced to admit that “ain’t” is a word. She was laughing; this probably happened to her every year. “Yes, ain’t is in the dictionary,” she told us, “but that doesn’t mean you should use it.”