"Gotten"

[ArcticLingered]

I'm quite new to MN - and have picked up the default language / advice that's freely given to many issues - LTB, people are always "vile" or "entitled" etc. But one that baffles me is the use of "gotten" in place of "got".
Please excuse my ignorance - but I thought gotten had died out centuries ago, though it is still used in USA English.
But LOADS of posters on MN use it. Is it due to autocorrect / predicative text? Or do some parts of the UK still use it? Or is there one poster with loads of different account names who posts really prolifically?

OP, you will also notice that MN has a nasty anti American vibe.

Indeed. Perhaps I'm mistaken, OP, but I'm afraid your 'Please excuse my ignorance' comes across as a little disingenuous.

It's not against the law, or MN rules, to use American English words or turns of phrase. Some posters on MN are actually American . Though who knows why they stick around, given how rude people are about them.

Owing to the prevalence of American English on the internet and in the media in general, it is not uncommon for US terms to be used by non-Americans. What's odd is how much it seems to infuriate people.

I use 'gotten' all the time. I'm in NI. I'm not saying everyone here uses it, but it's certainly not uncommon. Why do people have to be so scathing about it being an Americanism? It's used in America, yes. And it's used in some parts of the UK and Ireland. And you know what is meant by it, so no need to work yourself into a lather.

I heard similar nonsense last week about Halloween. People moaning about kids trick or treating because it's 'American'. We were celebrating Halloween in NI as part of a long cultural tradition when I was a child in the 70's. We dressed up and went round the neighbours with our turnip lanterns, did a wee turn, and were given sweeties or a couple of coins. Nothing to do with America. And even if it had been, so what? There's a lot of anti American sentiment on here which makes me feel uncomfortable and, I have to say, quite embarrassed.

Language evolves- if it didn't we would all still be saying "Forsooth" and the like.
I don't like to see it professionally but anything is fine colloquially imo.

But it happens that 'forsooth' has become archaic and has almost completely fallen out of use, whereby 'gotten' has endured.

There are loads of other words that have existed for centuries, but are still just as much commonly used nowadays as they ever have been.