Got/Gotten

[KinkyHair]

When I was at school I’d never heard of the word gotten. Now I keep seeing it all the time. I always thought it was got?

It’s not a word in British English. It is an Americanism.

Old English. Shakespeare used it.

I think Shakespeare was English, but could be wrong.....

Most people in modern Britain don't speak Old English...

In the present day, it is American, unless you are attending a Shakespeare play or prefer to converse as if you were born in the 16th century.

I think quite a lot of Irish people use it too.

Language is always evolving and changing, I think it’s interesting

I prefer it. It’s in common parlance today, don’t see the problem.

I hate it.

It really annoys me.

I imagine there are better synonyms that "got" in most cases.

Used lots in Scotland

It’s used in American English and there’s nothing wrong with it. Just like when a Brit says something like “We went down the pub.” It sounds very strange to an American ear but it’s perfectly fine.

It's used is areas of the UK too isn't it? It's been debated in here before.

America s probably picked it up from Scottish and Irish immigrants

It's used in Scottish English too.

And in the rest of the country in the form 'forgotten' .

Always been used in Scotland.

Dialect.

Like 'of a morning'.

Like nails on a blackboard to me.

It's in regular use in parts of Ireland.

No.
Gotten is just awful.

'gotten' in American English is actually the past participle for words like 'receive', 'become' and 'obtained' (presumably because they have prefixes and 'gotten' retains a suffix, or perhaps because they come from French and got and get from middle English - does anyone know?). However in American English, the past participle of 'get' is 'got', not gotten.

There does seem to be a lot of incorrect use of 'gotten' as an affectation.

There does seem to be a lot of incorrect use of 'gotten' as an affectation.

Or, you know, language evolves (god forbid on here though).

English is chock full of irregularities.

'got' has always been an awkward sounding word in English, again probably because its lost its suffix 'be'. I had a friend at school whose mother forbade her from using it because she considered it rude. So she would say 'I'm having a book for my birthday' instead of 'I'm getting'!

I find gotten annoying. Almost as annoying as expressions such as 'it fit me' and 'I'm tan' or 'I'm chill' (instead of the adjectives fitted, tanned and chilled).

"Gotten" is the archaic past participle of "get". British English evolved, the English that went with the pilgrims to the now U.S. of A. didn't, so that's why we use different past participles on some words. (Interestingly, we still use "forgotten" as the past participle of "forget".)

The increased use you mention now is probably down to increased exposure to American English through tv shows, Netflix, social media, etc.

When I was at school I’d never heard of the word gotten

Me too - but I also recall that the word "got" was rather frowned upon and the correct term was "I have"...etc.

Could be worse "conversating" is in the dictionary now . Though I still correct people and tell them it's conversing 😳