GOT: garbage word or wonderful word of the people?

careful with GISing 'got' with safesearch off

Mein Got!

what is the deal with english teachers and other non-writers counselling against 'get/got/gotten'. fuck 'em, obviously, but their anality feeds down to their pupils and thus contaminates the reading public in general.

FOR FUCKING REAL

Count me in with the hataz. I just don't like the tautology in "I have got it", even though "I have it" might sound antiquated. I don't know about this "little more flavor", it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I just don't like the tautology in "I have got it"

just say 'i got it', homeskillet.

Hello!

STUFF

ledge otm, it's poor construction. I'm sure I say it all the time, though.

My whole family says "got a shower" instead of "had a shower" or "showered."

You just put "got" where the "has" (or other conjugation) is. You do not juxtapose them!!!

I got ONE SOCK
Looking for the other
ONE SOCK
Can't find it's brother
When I find that sock
I'll tell you what I'll do
I'll put it on my foot
And I'll stick it in my shoe

***

This would be so different if hew said "I have one sock."

(i can't have got no) satisfaction

havve gott off

(I cannot obtain much) satisfaction

you're gonna have received yours

U have got the look

papa's obtained a brand new bag

"have got" is probably more common over here than "got". I got fewer complaints with "got" in the informal mode.

I just used "gotta" in a text.

The utility of retaining the separate meanings for 'get' and 'have' impels me to eschew the improper use of 'get/got/gotten' in any but the most demotic circumstances.

someone went to college.

BUT NOT LONG ENOUGH

Engl 458 "got studies"

I would profess this class.

have milk?

do you care for milk?

Actually I hate the phrase "got milk?" so much and all its subsequent permutations such as "got Jesus?" or "got feminism?"

On the bumper stickers, you know.

I just don't like the tautology in "I have got it", even though "I have it" might sound antiquated.

I have absolutely no qualms about sounding antiquated and I don't really understand why I gots to say a superfluous word to sound cool.

No no no, "have got" is ridiculous, I agree.

I'm sure I use 'got' this way a lot, but I have no problem with English being taught in a normative and 'correct' way so that, at it's more formal levels at least, it's mutually intelligible across regional, national and generational lines. People will end up speaking it as they please, anyway.

I've been told off for using "gotten" as it is Americanism, but not "got" - what is the objection?

got aids? (TM)

You Have Served

I got got by "got".

You Have Mail (I would prefer this)

I'm sure I use 'got' this way a lot, but I have no problem with English being taught in a normative and 'correct' way so that, at it's more formal levels at least, it's mutually intelligible across regional, national and generational lines. People will end up speaking it as they please, anyway.

-- Michael White, Friday, February 15, 2008 5:19 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

good think you used scare-quotes there. the attempt to hold down language use based on the whim of english teachers is absurd and literally retarded. trying to present this as a neutral means of aiding communication between generations and regions is a bit blinkered too, no? social class much?

My whole family says "got a shower" instead of "had a shower" or "showered."

That sounds so strange to my ears that I would almost accuse you of making it up...

GOTTA!
abbott!

HEY ABBOTT!!!!

as a neutral means of aiding communication between generations and regions is a bit blinkered too, no? social class much?

Because a thing is imperfect doesn't necessarily mean that it should be discarded or that it's worse than nothing.

the ideology of standard english, and of r.p., was based on the speaking habits of a particular class at a particular class, and had the effect of destroying diversity in accents, dialects, and even (in the case of manx) a language. people rubbed along okay before it came along, and maybe the world was a more exciting place. the language would wither and die if it did not allow new inputs in any case. long live got.

Why not add Cornish to the vitims of r.p.? The fact that r.p. was developped by an elite doesn't suprise me; the same top-down leadership is true of French, Italian and Spanish, and I have nothing against regionalisms and dialects but if you teach everyone a normative language, they can all understand each other despite what language they use down at their local. As an American, I'm not over het up over your social history, but I do recognize the utility standard American English norms had in unifying the U.S.

I remember when I first discovered the world of internet message boards about music, I found an R.E.M. forum somewhere, and used the word "Gotten" in my first ever post. The response was "ooh yeah, you're obviously a fucking american using 'gotten' you moron" etc...

And the internet has been the same ever since.

"I HAVE a beef pastry" lacks punch

I just got sex with my wife.

hey guys... HAVE MILK?!

careful with GISing 'got' pretty much any word with safesearch off

'ULLO JOHN GOTTA NEW MOTOR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v694rpQ1QWQ
(clip is a bit loud)

I do recognize the utility standard American English norms had in unifying the U.S.

-- Michael White, Friday, February 15, 2008 8:46 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

yeah, america really comes across as a united country at ease with its various minority groups, kudos.

Oh man you just totally zinged Noah Webster

It's like the concept of swearing, I think, in that it's the aspirant middle-class coming up with arbitrary rules in order to elevate themselves socially. I think the split infinitive exists as a 'rule' for the same reason.

That said, you do look a bit of a tit if you go for a bank job interview claiming you've gotta get yer skills up in cleanin' the windahs an' that.

look see

xp Er, while I was writing that my train went to the wrong station and I blurted 'these fuckers haven't got a clue'

So, do Britishers and Australian/NZ people not use the word "got" as a rule, even in casual conversation?

Mos Def to thread.

Seriously though we've done this on ILX like 8 billion freaking times

- Yes, language norms are shaped by social and economic dominance, as are every other form of "norms" in any society anywhere
- Social and economic dominance are not the whims of English teachers
- Most people will happily trample over the cold dead bodies of amateur prescriptivists to check with reference books and learned friends about things like resumes and cover letters, based as it may be, along with the everything else in the universe, on social and economic dominance of the past
- Vexed as that dominance may be, there is nevertheless a common interest in a language being efficient, expressive, and coherent, and many of the language issues people bother getting exercised over at this point actually are on the grounds of structural coherence or clarity of meaning, and not some kind of aspiration or class fealty to the habits of the ruling class

And most rational Americans at this point would say that "got" is a perfectly serviceable bit of vernacular that nonetheless has certain social markings that make it not to your benefit to use it if you happen to be interviewing for a provost position at a major university or anything

dell, we all use 'got'. I don't think even our English teachers care anymore.

(Actually even then, you can use it, just not in any kind of construction that's like "I got a plan for that" or something; constructions like "we have GOT to make that happen" are not much socially marked at all)

And those should have been the cold dead bodies of amateur DESCRIPTIVISTS, pardon

xp (wtf am I talking about, our English teachers can't even spell anymore)

I will rep for "getted".

Oh and P.S. it's totally silly to imagine that class dominance through language was somehow invented or strengthened by the regularization of a language -- in this imaginary Golden Age of diversity of descriptivist wet dreams before regularization and mass education, people are only MORE subject to class dominance, marked as they are by speech that identifies their class entirely and irrevocably, in ways a lot more dramatic that people getting snobby about saying "ain't" or "irregardless"

Wow are there a lot of errors in that "sentence"

people are only MORE subject to class dominance, marked as they are by speech that identifies their class entirely and irrevocably, in ways a lot more dramatic that people getting snobby about saying "ain't" or "irregardless"

Yes, this is an excellent point. Standard American English can actually be a great democratizer in a way, a tool for AVOIDING quick and easy class identification