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Here are three strange contractions

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in English. Hi everyone,

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I'm Jeff and this

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is Plain English, where

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you can upgrade your

0:11

English skills with stories

0:13

about current events and

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trending topics. Most Plain

0:18

English episodes are not

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really about English, but

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about other things going

0:25

on in the world.

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But this month... we're

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doing three special episodes

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about words in English.

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We did one on

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Latin words that was

0:38

number 747. We did

0:41

one on French words

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that was 750. And

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then today number 753

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is about strange contractions

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in English. You probably

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know contractions. are two

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words combined into one.

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Like don't is short

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for do not. But

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there are some contractions that

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do not follow that rule.

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And I'll share three of

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them with you today.

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Every episode comes with

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a transcript so you can

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read the words as you

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listen. And the transcript

1:20

has a great feature. There

1:22

are translations built right

1:24

into the transcript, so

1:26

you don't have to

1:28

pause the audio to look

1:30

up a word. It's really

1:33

cool, and there are

1:35

translations into nine languages. So

1:37

if you haven't seen

1:39

that, try it out today

1:42

at plainenglish.com/ 753. That's where

1:44

you'll also find a

1:47

quiz, skills exercise, and

1:49

a discussion area. Plain

1:51

english.com/753. Before

1:53

we start

1:55

today's story, I'd just

1:58

like to remind you the

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Now, let's jump

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into today's story.

2:56

separated with an

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apostrophe. Your is short

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for you are. Haven't

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is short for have

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not. But there are

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a few contractions

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in English that

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are not combinations

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of two words. The ones

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we'll talk about today

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are ma'am, o'clock, and

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ain't. Let's start

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with ma'am. is

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spelled M-A, apostrophe,

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A-M. Unlike other contractions,

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MAM doesn't connect

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or combine two

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words. It only

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shortens one word. It's

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short for Madame, which

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comes from French. MAM

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is a formal way

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to address a woman. It's

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the female equivalent of

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the word sir. This

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can often be considered

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polite. and respectful,

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but it always

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implies an emotional

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distance between two people.

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A police officer might say,

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step out of the car,

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please ma'am. A customer

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service agent might say,

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can I help you ma'am? But

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I would caution you

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against using ma'am unless

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you're sure it's

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appropriate. Some people might

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think that you're calling them

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old if you use that

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term and you never use

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ma'am with someone you

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already know. But if you

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see a woman drop a pair

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of gloves on the street you

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might pick them up and say

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ma'am are these your gloves.

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Next is one of

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the funniest words in

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English. I dare you to

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find me a funnier word. The

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word is O'clock. It's O,

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apostrophe, and the

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word clock. O'clock.

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It's six o'clock.

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Means six hours after

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midnight. It's nine o'clock.

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Means it's three

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hours before noon,

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etc. O'clock is funny

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for a few reasons.

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First, it's not a

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contraction of words we

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would use today. but

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it is a contraction.

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The origin of

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O'clock goes back

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to the early

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days of mechanical

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timekeeping. Before mechanical

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clocks, people

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kept time with sundials,

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hourglasses, and church

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bells, all of which

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were imprecise. So when people

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first started referring to

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the time kept by

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mechanical clocks, They needed

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a way to specify

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that when they said

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five, they meant five

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as told by a

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mechanical clock. So in

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the 14th and 15th

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centuries, people in English

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began to say five

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of the clock. By

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the 1500s, it was

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shortened to O'clock in

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informal speech. By about

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the 1600s, O'clock was

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the standard way to

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describe the time, and

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we still use it

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today. Most languages simply

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say hour. Translated

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literally, it is one hour,

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or they are two hours. Or

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simply, it is two, or

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it is one. Only English,

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Welsh, and Gaelic

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use a term

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like O'clock. Timekeeping.

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Finally, ain't. Ain't is

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a tricky word. It's spelled

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A-I-N- apostrophe-T-A-t.

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In school, kids learn that

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ain't isn't correct and

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shouldn't be used. It's

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not a swear word. It's

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not profanity. It's in the

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dictionary. It's in the dictionary.

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It's in the dictionary.

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It's in the dictionary.

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It's in the dictionary.

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And some adults use

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it. And yet we learned

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that we shouldn't use

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it. What's the story?

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In conversation, ain't

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is a way of

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making a sentence negative.

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He ain't coming back

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home. He is not coming

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back home. She ain't from

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around here. Means she is

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not from around here. Almost

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every native English speaker

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will understand what ain't

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means. but this is

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a very unusual word. It's

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one of the few words

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that is common in daily

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speech and yet is

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frequently criticized by

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authority figures like teachers

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and grammar experts.

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Most authority figures in

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language say you shouldn't

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use the word ain't. Dictionaries

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call it nonstandard.

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Teachers. tell you not to

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use it. You won't see

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it in formal writing and

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it rarely appears

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in publications like

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newspapers, nonfiction books

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or journal articles

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unless the subject

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is dialects or

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language. There is a stigma

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to the word ain't. Many

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people say it's wrong or

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incorrect to use. Some people

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believe that using ain't

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is a marker of low

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education. In my opinion,

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this is a bit harsh.

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I personally never use it,

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but some people do use

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the word ain't in

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casual conversation and you often

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hear it in creative

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work like song lyrics,

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movies, and works of

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fiction. And there are some

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dialects. that use ain't

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without any stigma at

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all. You can use ain't

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for effect. People

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sometimes purposely use ain't

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just to grab attention.

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That ain't bad is a

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common way of saying that's not

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bad, even among people

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who know and respect

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the rules of grammar.

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Ain't is even part of

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a common English saying.

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If it ain't broke, Don't

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fix it. So ain't is

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not all bad. Still, my

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advice to you is that

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you should not use ain't

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unless you really know

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what you're doing.

10:10

Standard English is

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hard enough without having

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to learn how to

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use the non-standard words.

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I'll never forget one

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day. I was probably

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nine or ten years

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old. Someone in my

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classroom had found the word

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ain't in the dictionary. There

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was chaos in the classroom.

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Because our teachers, our parents,

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every adult in our lives

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had told us that ain't

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is not a word and

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that we should never use

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it. It should never ever

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ever cross our lips. And

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then one kid found ain't

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in the dictionary. Here

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was proof. that all the

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grown-ups in our lives had

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been lying to us the

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whole time. And our teacher

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was forced to admit

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that ain't is a word.

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She was laughing. This probably

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happened to her every year.

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Yes, ain't is in the

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dictionary, she told us. But

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that doesn't mean you should

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use it. That's

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all for us here at

11:25

Plain English for today Thursday

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February 27th 2025. I think

11:29

I've got a theme in

11:32

mind for the month of

11:34

March I'm not a hundred

11:36

percent sure though. Let's see

11:38

where we go with that

11:40

Remember the full transcript plus

11:42

activities and the fast audio

11:44

are available at Plan. I hope

11:46

you enjoyed today's episode

11:48

The version you listen to goes

11:51

a little slower than native speed

11:53

to help you understand better. But

11:55

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expressions. You see, every week

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we create two separate versions

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of the audio. There's

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the slow version you just

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heard, and there's the full

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speed version. The full speed

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I were talking to a

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native English speaker. Many plain

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English listeners use both

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listening. And before you ask,

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no, there's no artificial

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