To hate the word Gotten, there is surely no such word

[NoahVale]

and I was dismayed to see that my DD wrote gotten in an email to a prospective employer.

Gotten is a word.

in America yes but not in UK

I don't like gotten either. Totally unnecessary.

Ill gotten gains is the only use that springs to mind hope she didn't use that phrase Noahvale

It is a word. It was used frequently at one time, but has been replaced by got.

Lighten

No I think the phrase was, I have gotten another reference

I remember my English teacher at school saying there were two words that we should never use as there were always alternatives if we just thought even a tiny bit: "nice" and "to get."

She was right.

There is always another verb you can use that's more suitable. Gotten is particularly horrid.

I am not alone in my hate for the word
as in this link,
people pour scorn on the word, apparently
grammarist.com/usage/got-gotten/

In your daughters case it could be "I have obtained another reference" - way classier than got, let alone gotten.

Ill gotten gains is good though. I always wanted se of those ;)

I don't like it and can't help thinking of it as an Americanism even though I know in my head that it's a British word that we exported and then stopped using ourselves.
I think it would be really inappropriate in an email or letter to an employer - would make you sound a bit illiterate.

and My dd has just finished A level english language

Gotten used to be a perfectly normal past tense 'i have gotten' in English. It carried on in American English but British English evolved separately. Now it's coming back in to usage due to US culture influence.

I don't particularly like its use, especially in formal contexts, but it would be interesting if it evolved back into the language a couple of hundred years after it left!

I did Linguistics at university 15 years ago and I can only show off any knowledge at times like this, so humour me (I may also be wrong...)

It is a proper English word - although 'gotten' has been generally exchanged for 'got' in the UK. Misbegotten, forgotten and ill gotten are still used on this side of the Atlantic.

Americanisms? Quick pass the smelling salts...that's almost as bad as being common.

Hate this snobbery. Who actually really cares?

I can't stand it. I also hate utilise. Just say got and use.

It is a word, but it's an American English word, not an English English word - at least not in the context that it is now being used. I agree with Coffee.

But I don't care whether it's a real word or not, I care that we have a perfectly got word of our own that does the job yet it is increasingly being replaced with an American alternative for no good reason.

I agree with dont cry though - 'got' and 'gotten' can both sound clumsy and lazy.

Maybe 'gotten' sounds bad because it is overused?

I read to an elderly, blind neighbour a couple of times a week and am currently reading a D E Stevenson novel written in the 1940's. Gotten is in regular use and I have also noticed it in Agatha Christie novels so I would imagine it was still in common usage in the UK at that time.

I think it may have been used in a slightly different context though?

Which novel?

Interesting site for US:UK language watchers ....

britishisms.wordpress.com/

Crikey, there was a thread on this just a couple of weeks ago.

'Gotten' is common enough parlance down our way.

I find it a bit try-hard actually. When I read it here, in posts, I find it clunky and makes me wince just very slightly.

I would correct it if reviewing a written document. YANBU. If I received that email from your Daughter (having "gotten" another reference) I would not interview her but then I'm a bit ridiculous like that and am most probably BU.