Learn English – Why “broke” and not “broken” in “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”

errorsidiomspast-participles

If it ain't broke, don't fix it

an idiom says. Why isn't it

If it ain't broken, don't fix it

On the other hand the lyrics of a song "Victory" played by a band "Deliverance" are as follows:

The time has come for you to choose 
Choose whom you will serve 
As for me and my band 
Christ we have chose to serve

Why isn't it

have chosen to serve

What is that strange construction with the past form instead of the past participle? It looks as if a mistake had been made…

Best Answer

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

The saying uses "broke" because it's deliberately going for a folksy, non-grammatical feel of homespun wisdom. The implication is that simple people (those least likely to adhere to strict grammar rules) have an innate common sense that the more refined among us do not share. Such people tend to use "ain't" for "isn't" and "broke" for "broken" in that case.

In other words, it simply wouldn't be as convincing to say

If it isn't broken, don't fix it.

Addendum

I'll further note that the OP's construction, which mixes ain't with broken, violates the register's integrity by mixing a grammatical syntactical element ("broken") with an "ungrammatical" one ("ain't"). So it gets the tone wrong as well. It would be a little like showing up in formal wear to a barbecue.

Point of clarification

I do not mean to imply that the construction is ungrammatical, only that it is perceived as such by habitues of a more formal register. That's why I was careful to qualify my references to grammaticality.

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