Is it normal in UK English to use "gotten" as past tense for "get"?

[thumbElf]

I know the Americans say it, but is it a dialect thing in England? Would you normally say "I have got" or "I have gotten", and is it area-dependent?

I have never knowingly said "I have gotten" - I am from the SE, London/ Surrey area.

I hear this a lot in coffee shops :

"Can I help you?"
"Can I get a cappuccino" - aaaarghghghgh

Can I HAVE a cappuccino, I would LIKE a cappuccino, a cappuccino please - but not can I get...

Not heard it. I think it sounds rather charming. I have a vague idea it is actually old English usage but I may be wrong on that

Yes 'can I get' really grates. Not unless you come round here and actually get it you can't!

For some reason we can all happily use 'I forgot' and 'I have forgotten' for the past tense of 'forget', but can't do the same for 'got' and 'gotten'.

Hmm this is a good question. If you think of the irregular verb lists, it is "get got gotten". Also if you are using the past perfect "I had gotten everything I needed before the shop closed" it is grammatically correct but it just doesn't sound right. On the other hand "He hadn't got out of bed for a couple of days before the doctor came" doesn't sound right either. SO in answer to your question I don't know.

I'm pretty sure I've gone through life without using either. When would you use that word or expression?

i have as little truck with starbucks as anyone. I LOATHE the way our high streets are all dominated by chains. lol, I don't think anyone will out-guardianista me

BUT gotten is creeping (back) into our language not because of starbucks, but because we are an increasingly multicultural society. And also because unlike, say, welsh or (iirc? anna?) french (?) there is no list of acceptable words. Our language is a living tapestry of all the influences upon our island and I think it is wonderful.

I have loathed what america stood for for most of the past 8 years. But not the people. And the dialect comes from the people, not starbucks.

yes "can i get" is a little daft but really, as I say-who cares so long as people understand what is meant?

Ruby you have forgotten to say that you 'were sat' in the rain

Lordy the 'horrid' reminds me of that hideously spoilt girl with the ringlets, stamping her foot in a temper. Just can't take it seriously!!

I did once use 'gotten', right after telling my English boss I didn't think I'd picked up any Americanisms during my couple of years secondment in the US.

I did hear a theory that this usage in the US arose from the large numbers of German-speaking immigrants to whom it came naturally. Don't know if that's right or not, but it wouldn't be suprising if US 'English' did have such influences.

oh zazen, you mean Violet Elizabeth (from the Just Willian series) who would Thcream and thcream and thcream until she was sick, don't you? - Bonny Langford's most memorable role...

burglarise - now there's a pointless word if ever there was one, I always end up shouting at the tv "it's BURGLE!! BURGLE!"

Uriel, how on earth did you differentiate a "surveille" from a survey?

I don't like "Can I get" either. The one I least "get" is "can I fix you a coffee", as used by an American friend - I was bemused by the thoughts of broken coffee...or broken me, depending on how you look at it!

Oh dear, perhaps I should have put this in Pedants' corner after all...

American English is a lovely language/dialect. Gotten is indeed to past participle of get.

my american friend answers the phone with a quite curt "right WHATS UP"

I say, reflexively, "um, nothing"

and she says "no i mean, hello"

how we chortle. every time

OMG Bonny Langford how too too hideous.
That's probably where my total aversion to horrid comes from.

Or even a cup of strong Earl Grey!! no need to fix that..

We all say ill-gotten gains though don't we? Or do some say ill-got gains? Now that doesn't sound right

Fillyjonk, my DH (Australian) always starts a phone conversation "How're ya going" - regardless of who made the call and when he last spoke to me, i.e. he has just popped up to the shop for something, there is a choice, he doesn't know which to pick, so he phones me and says "how're ya going" - he saw me 5 mins previously! Strange habits...

I ALWAYS say "see you later"

even to call centre people

its a habit