Got vs Gotten?

Rimsy said:
People who are vaguely educated I imagine.. I mean you could get by with just grunting and pointing but that wouldn't make for an enjoyable form of communication!
That being said I've just been informed I've used the word gotton myself too so there we go :(
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I was 100% with you Rimsy, but even I balked at gotton.

FoxEye said:
The American usage that grates on me is to use "get" in a passive context. "Can I get a <whatever>?" No, you can't. You're a customer. You can't come behind the bar and fetch it yourself. I will get it and pass it to you. You can receive a <whatever> here, but you can't get a <whatever> here. If you want to get a <whatever>, you'll have to go to a shop where you serve yourself. Not a bar where you are served by someone else. Basic English, pal.
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Both my wife and I use "can I get?" often, in fact last Monday night, in The Blue Print restaurant at Tower Bridge, she said "Can I get the sirloin please, only with mashed potatoes rather than chips?"
I was born in East London, she in Camberwell, we live in Rotherhithe SE London, you can't much more basic English than that, even though I have French blood, and we know that we should say, "I'd like whatever please", but no one has ever queried us in a British establishment, it's just an idiosyncrasy of speech.

dirtychinchilla said:
Pacific! When people say that to me I think, what the ocean? What the **** do they think that they're saying?
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don't forget skellington, ecscape, or driving with undue care and attention!
 
Tuppy_Glossop said:
Some applications of the written word require explicit and unambiguous definitions: contracts, law, instructions, etc. Misunderstandings can be expensive and/or dangerous.
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Part of my job is reading contracts worth millions of pounds and I've yet to see one that read sensibly they are all so full of words and jargon that by the time you try and argue anything the contract ends up to ambiguous to be clear, correct use of grammar is of little consequence when large contracts are generally a mess and open to interpretation by all parties to suit them.
 
a1ex2001 said:
English grammar rules are hilarious
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They'd be fine if we hadn't kept suffering invasions and takeovers from foreign nations...
They forced us to integrate their languages into ours, so it's only right that we get stupid about how it works and then force it LOUDLY AND S-L-O-W-L-Y on any nation we subsequently visit on Summer holidays!!

a1ex2001 said:
this thread is arguing over wether a word that fell out of use a couple of centuries or not is still allowed to be part of the English language.
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I'd rather the rules remained, than start including all the silly made-up Twitter/Facebook words that fall out of use even before they can get the new editions of the dictionary printed.

a1ex2001 said:
I for one would just let the language progress and evelove as it always has
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Teesh, man bruv, lo fast, ne hody maar....
Yeah, exactly.

Jean-F said:
don't forget skellington, ecscape, or driving with undue care and attention!
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All used by a secutary who arksed me about that on the Sickth of Febbury...
 
Hotwired said:
The end justifies the means eh.

Works just fine as long as your clique has an agreement on what meaning you're trying to convey.

But when you interact with others not familiar to your customised use of the language then the meaning can be completely obliterated.

There is pigeon english mashed up from poorly taught english and other languages which can be quite unintelligible if you're not a local. They understand each other so it's fine right?
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I know what you mean. I think when writing online there is a mix of spoken and written english being typed. I personally try and at least keep to basic grammar. But then written english can come across as very cold and devoid of emotion. I've been on IRC (Internet Relay Chat) for about 25 years (damn I sound old!) and I could always tell how long someone had been on the Internet by how they typed. New people typed very cold and calculated. But taking shortcuts and adding your own uniqueness projects more emotion. That is my observation. But like I say, no matter how people type it is always good to have at least basic grammar.
 
Combine this with the (yank) use of 'off of' and it really gets my goat.

'He should have gotten off of the bus.' Instead of simply, 'He should have got off the bus.'
 
BadMojo said:
Combine this with the (yank) use of 'off of' and it really gets my goat.

'He should have gotten off of the bus.' Instead of simply, 'He should have got off the bus.'
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I have no wish to stir the pot here, but as someone who has visited the U.S. annually since 1976, sometimes more than once per year, I can't recall hearing an American say "got off of, or get off of" anything, granted I've rarely ridden a bus in the U.S., but I've been on and off many planes, and quite a few trains while there.
I'm not saying that it's never said in the U.S., just that I don't recall hearing it said, I do hear it said over here though, and I think that the "of" is superfluous.
 
amigafan2003 said:
If you're American or writing for an American audience sure, otherwise it's "This has got out of control".
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is that correct english?

doesnt fit to me, surely its

This is out of control
this has became out of control.

but then on google I see for headlines
"
Why banking got out of control in the digital age"
where I'd have thought
Why banking is out of control in the digital age
why banking became out of control in the digital age.
or even
why banking has become out of control in the digital age

sounds much better??

this has got out of control sounds really chav uneducated pleb like to me
 
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