My first AIBU! The word 'gotten'

[MollyHuaCha]

Why is this creeping over the pond into our language? AIBU to be bothered about this?

Yes, "he was sat" rather than 'sitting'. Horrible. I was choosing a book for my grandson when, flicking though it, I read "he went to lay on the bed" No, no, no! (unless he was capable of producing eggs?) I didn't buy the book.

It was a treat cara

My ears bleed when I hear:

• every other sentence started with "actually" or "basically"

• every other sentence ended with "right?"

• over use of "so"

• talking in acronyms eg "LOL" and "YOLO"

• using the word "awesome" to describe the average and mundane

Most other linguistic offences* I can reluctantly tolerate.

• as defined by me

"Eats etc" is one of my favourite books.

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DH uses "can I get" it makes my teeth itch. He doesn't see anything wrong with it despite being careful with his grammar normally.

Perhaps he sees nothing wrong with it because there is nothing wrong with it.

I live among the Americans so I can't let gotten bother me! In recent years I've heard this though, when people are ordering food- " I'm going to do a ( insert chosen order)"So for example, " I'm going to do a double cheese burger with fries" or " I'll do a cafe mocha". That drives me nuts!

DidoFido you're quite right to be annoyed by that one, as it is incorrect grammar. Much else discussed here is regional variation, or slang, and can't be termed right or wrong - just different.

Distinctions that are well on their way to biting the dust in English on both sides of the pond:

who/whom
can/may
lie/lay
uninterested/disinterested

YANBU for it to bother you, but YABU to expect people to stop using it.

It's a legitimate word, and it's in current use in other English-speaking countries (not just the US).

Totally agree that 'I'm sat here...' 'I was sat listening to...', 'I seen', 'I done', are way more grating! Only ever hear people from the UK use those clangers.

Yes, I don't understand "I'm sat here..."

We don't use that here.

One irrational one from me is Americans (typically from the South) who say, "I'm fixing to get lunch", "I'm fixing to run some errands", I'm fixing to have a shower". What on fuck's earth is "fixing"?!

Pluto30 "Fixing" in the sense you're talking about has been around for a very long time. It is an Americanism, but it originated in Britain in the 1600s. Again, you can be bemused by the word, but it is very much legitimate.

I have the same reaction to Americans who use the word "whilst."

That said, I'm guilty of nearly every annoying Americanism listed here. The "can I get x" thing is odd because here it's used to be polite. Like, a softer version of, "I want x" or "get me x." To say "may I have x" would sound overly correct somehow.

The other distinction well on its way out is that/which.

"Fixing" in the sense you're talking about has been around for a very long time. It is an Americanism, but it originated in Britain in the 1600s. Again, you can be bemused by the word, but it is very much legitimate.

Interesting. I had no idea. The more you know!

"Whilst" is an archaic form of "while" - I don't know about you, but it seems all teenagers go through a phase where they pepper essays with "whilst" and "wherefore." "Whilst" needs to drift away gracefully!

My phone just autocorrected to 'have gotten' as I was posting on another thread. I was too lazy to change it, but then immediately saw this thread which has just served to make me feel slightly dirty

I like 'whilst'.
People who don't seem to know the difference between uninterested/disinterested are annoying.
But I have to admit to having difficult with who/whom. It's fine in writing, there's time work out the case. Not so easy in speech

"Fixing" in the sense you're talking about has been around for a very long time. It is an Americanism, but it originated in Britain in the 1600s. Again, you can be bemused by the word, but it is very much legitimate.

Yes, it comes from an older sense of "fix" as in settling on a course of action. It's only used in the Southern US, and then only informally and often jokingly. We (I'm a Georgia native) don't use it in formal writing.

As to disinterested/uninterested, actually, the "not interested" meaning of disinterested is older than the "impartial" meaning of the word going back as far as 1600 or so. It shifted sometime later and grammarians began to insist on a distinction between the two. The meaning is now shifting back. "Dis" and "un" mean essentially the same thing. It's different meanings of "interest" that keep the distinction alive. When I am editing, I recommend finding another word for "disinterested" when the writer means impartial because I think there are so few readers who even recognize the distinction these days.

Gotten had been part of my vocabulary forever. I'm 45. It's not new to this country, it just hasn't been used in some parts.

Don't like it? Tough. I'm not going to stop saying it just because some people think it has come over from America.

YABU.

"Whilst" is awful.

WTF is wrong with "whilst" now???

I use/say it all the time. And I'm no teenager. (sadly)

Mind you, I also use "notwithstanding" and "oftentimes" in conversation.

#hatersgonnahate

I prefer while to whilst, but both are fine.

The may/might difference has almost gone, which is a real shame, but mostly the english language careers on in its glorious way.

We in this bitch, finna get crunk, eyebrows on fleek.

We in this bitch, finna get crunk, eyebrows on fleek.

Annihilating all that's made to a green thought in a green shade.

English is such a lovely twisty unpredictable thing.

I do wish we hadn't lost the may/might distinction though.

"Whilst" is unnecessarily pompous

"Whilst" is unnecessarily pompous grin

Thank you.

"Notwithstanding" is a fine word, though.