dissonance from Seattle, WA

dissonance

Wankster from Seattle, WA

age: Classic
member since: over 2 years ago
places: seatown downtown
day job: astronaut

about dissonance...

“There is no such word as gotten,” an irritated reader recently wrote to The Boston Globe Magazine, objecting to the use of the word by a usage commentator, who should have known better. The notion that gotten is illegitimate has been around for over 200 years and refuses to die. The word itself is much older than the criticism against it. As past participles of get, both got and gotten go back to the Middle Ages. In American English, have got is chiefly an intensive form of have in its senses of possession and obligation and can only be used in the present tense. Gotten sees regular use as a variant past participle of get. It can occur in a variety of past and perfect tenses: Had she gotten the car when you saw her? I would not have gotten sick if I had stayed home. In Britain, gotten has mostly fallen out of use.

There are subtle distinctions in meaning between the two forms. Got often implies current possession, where gotten usually suggests the process of obtaining. I haven’t got any money suggests that you are broke. I haven’t gotten any money suggests that you have not been paid for your efforts. This sense of process or progression applies to many other uses of gotten, and in some of these cases got just doesn’t sound as natural to the American ear: The bridge has gotten weaker since the storm. We have finally gotten used to the new software. Mice have gotten into the basement.

Remember that only got can be used to express obligation, as in I have got to go to Chicago. Note the difference in the sentence when gotten is used. I have gotten to go to Chicago implies that the person has had the opportunity or been given permission to go.

dissonance's favorite...

artists:

people under the stairs, binary star, tricky, portishead, mos def, dj krush, mum, sigur ros, mogwai, unkle [pre-r. file; shadow & lavelle], mf doom, american analog set, dj db, kaki king