i am loathing the gradual creep of the term 'gotten' on here

[FrankietheSquealer]

Please desist

And it's 'I was standing/sitting' not 'I was stood/sat', while we're at it. Continuous tense.

I'm a little late to this party, but can't believe no-one has yet highlighted the very common use of "ass" on Mumsnet, when the poster clearly means "arse".

What's that about ? I never hear anyone English say "ass" in spoken conversation (except when referring to donkeys), but it seems very widespread in written form on Mumsnet !

Uggh. I so agree. I hate Ass. Unless it has long ears and eats carrots.

I once read a critique of the Narnia books by a Southern Baptist, who complained about many, many things, but PARTICULARLY that C S Lewis had someone ride on an 'ass' in The Last Battle, because even though he was writing in British English, decades earlier, he should have known that the word 'ass' would come to mean something different in the US.

You have to find that again for us, Abraid. It sounds hilarious.

I think that "ass" and "arse" referring to buttocks come from the same word, with the "ass" pronunciation developing in the US. When someone with a non-rhotic accent says "arse", it can sound close to "ass", but with a longer "a" sound.

I really hope 'OK' doesn't catch on over here.

I mean, it's not even a word

'Asshole' sounds very American but to refer to someone as being an ass sounds very English, in a Wodehousian kind of way, to me. A frightful ass.

abraid

that's brilliant.
I'm guessing the Wicked Witch of the West is now really cackling coz she is 'wicked'

begotten is the past participle of to beget. I presume that an ill-begotten gain cries and wets its nappy.

I really hope 'OK' doesn't catch on over here.

Really? I think you're a bit late.

Here we are:

'The word "ass" appears in 4 of the [Narnia] books. Being British, it probably did not mean the same to [C S Lewis] as it does to Americans (as a swear word), but he could have left it out, espebliplly [sic] since he only used it four times and did use "donkey" in other places. However, considering the filthy state of his mind, it is possible that he thought this cute.'

Here's the website source:

www.balaams-ass.com/journal/homemake/narnia.htm

It will do your head in.

I don't mind 'gotten', but am not fond of phrases such as, "I am loathing", I loathe seems better.

yes I did point that out lardyscouse.
Verbs such as 'loathe' 'love' 'like' 'hate' are called 'state verbs' and DO NOT TAKE THE CONTINUOUS.
grrrrrrr
OKOK calm down

This new craze for the present continuous is irritating.

"It's got out of control." Nothing wrong with that.

This sounds wrong to my ear. However, I am American.

Sunny

your post is like McDonald's
I'm loving it

I quite like gotten as in "I've gotten a new phone", seems perfectly fine.

The one that REALLY annoys me is "should of" instead of "should have", its just wrong wrong wrong! ;)

'I've gotten a new phone' sounds weird to me!

Oooo, sorry, missed that.

Thanks, abraid! Given the URL, it's an odd position to take.

Then, the whole website is a tad odd

Someone please explain "espebliplly" on that website. Have they put a 'blip' everywhere there's a 'US' or a 'CIA'?? Is this mad tinhattery gone a bit madder?

It is interesting that in English we use both ass and arse to mean a stupid and slightly stubborn person. Even though ass is literally an ass, a stubborn and reputedly stupid creature, and arse is something else entirely. Has "you silly arse" come from "you silly ass" I wonder? Or is it just like saying "you complete knob" or similar....

You are all wrong about Shakespearean English -- untainted SE Irish accents are the closest to Elizabethan English, so ner.

I think 'excited for' is an Americanism. It is something DD2 says, and frankly it gets on my tits. None of the other DCs use that phrase. DD2 managed to pick up a really strong accent from her elementary teachers in school too, unlike any of the others. She is my little miss melting-pot.

John Milton, the one who wrote "Paradise Lost" had a cottage in Chalfont St Giles and he regularly used "gotten" in the mid seventeenth century. Can't get more Home Counties than that.

This talk of accents and dialects makes a valid point. Widespread printing and literacy meant that certain writers of English could be read widely outside their local area, cue the beginning of the end for local dialects.

In the same way, the sheer volume of American literature, films and television mean that American expressions will continue to have an increasing influence on a language which is in a permanent state of flux.

Shakespeare's language was heavily influenced by Latinised words which were entering English at the time or the renaissance so he was not, in any sense writing in any "pure" dialect, he was writing in English which had been recently changed by the influence of other countries and the mass media of the time, printing.

Language changes.