The word "got"

FeatherLite · Feb 8, 2009

I'm a word lover, not degreed but pretty funny about grammar and such. Something rubs me the wrong way about the word "got" and I try not to use it. Am I right in my aversion to it?

I got pretty emotional./I became pretty emotional.

What did you get for Christmas?
I got a CD player./My mom gave me a CD player.

This is how I work around it.

scarletpeaches · Feb 8, 2009

I just hate 'gotten'.

It makes me cry bitter tears.

The Lonely One · Feb 8, 2009

scarletpeaches said:
I just hate 'gotten'.

It makes me cry bitter tears.

Gotten=gross in prose, has potential in dialogue? (I still haven't decided how I'mma spell that word...)

To the OP: consider that each of the examples you opted for, they were more detailed and directly informative, while the other examples which used "got" were passive and non-specific. I think you're on the right track with this one.

scarletpeaches · Feb 8, 2009

Oh, dialogue for sure. I'll write anything if it's appropriate to the character's speech. After all, real people don't speak in the Queen's English and would sound rather po-faced if they did.

FeatherLite · Feb 8, 2009

I use it in casual/lazy conversation, knowing it's not proper. It's pretty common language in the south. It just really bugs me in writing. I suppose we can use just about anything to color a character, I just wondered if it was actually bad form.

HeronW · Feb 8, 2009

Depends on usage, like anything else. I try not to use 'had got' or 'I've got'. Something like a revenge line, 'We got him good that time' though 'he'd gotten over her' does sound rather wonky.

Devil Ledbetter · Feb 8, 2009

My favorite example of the proper time to use "got."

You should get a dog.

I have a dog.

You should get a real dog.

I've got a real dog.

Jerry B. Flory · Feb 8, 2009

Even worse is "I've got." And you hear it everywhere. Even on the X-Files where Mulder is supposed to be an Oxford grad and oughta better know better he still says "I've got."

I want to slap people for saying it let alone writing it down, but, much to my chagrin, it is the way people talk unless they're the kind of people who are really conscious about what they say.

Dawnstorm · Feb 8, 2009

FeatherLite said:
I'm a word lover, not degreed but pretty funny about grammar and such. Something rubs me the wrong way about the word "got" and I try not to use it. Am I right in my aversion to it?

I got pretty emotional./I became pretty emotional.

What did you get for Christmas?
I got a CD player./My mom gave me a CD player.

This is how I work around it.

An aversion is an aversion. It's not right or wrong - it's there.

That said, it sounds to me that you have no problem with "What did you get for Christmas?" but you do have a problem with "I got a CD player for Christmas."

Try another verb and you'll see how strange this is. ("What did you buy with your lunch money?" - "I bought lots of chocolate.")

If the verb "get" is okay in the question, why isn't it okay in the answer?

My guess is that you've read about or listened to too many gripes about "got" in other contexts (as Heron said, some people don't like "I've got a X", for example, since "I have a X," is sufficient). It sounds like grammar gripes have trained your ear to hypersensitivity, so that now you're reacting adversly to "got" even if it's just the normal past tense of "get" (and it's hard to justify not using the past tense of a verb, if you'd use the present tense without second thoughts.)

Since you didn't correct "What did you get for Christmas?" this a plausible hypothesis, but only you can find that out.

For the first one, ask yourself what you think about: "I always get emotional watching Casablanca." (The "get" not the sentence.

) If this doesn't bother you, you've porbably internalised and overgeneralised a grammar gripe.

semilargeintestine · Feb 8, 2009

Jerry B. Flory said:
Even worse is "I've got." And you hear it everywhere. Even on the X-Files where Mulder is supposed to be an Oxford grad and oughta better know better he still says "I've got."

I want to slap people for saying it let alone writing it down, but, much to my chagrin, it is the way people talk unless they're the kind of people who are really conscious about what they say.

Not everyone who is highly educated speaks properly all the time, if at all. I've met some pretty smart people who speak like the rest of us mortals.

scarletpeaches · Feb 8, 2009

I'd forgive David Duchovny anything, 'cause...well, he's David Duchovny.

semilargeintestine · Feb 8, 2009

Damn straight. The SAG awards were rigged.

FeatherLite · Feb 8, 2009

Dawnstorm said:
An aversion is an aversion. It's not right or wrong - it's there.

That said, it sounds to me that you have no problem with "What did you get for Christmas?" but you do have a problem with "I got a CD player for Christmas."

Try another verb and you'll see how strange this is. ("What did you buy with your lunch money?" - "I bought lots of chocolate.")

If the verb "get" is okay in the question, why isn't it okay in the answer?

My guess is that you've read about or listened to too many gripes about "got" in other contexts (as Heron said, some people don't like "I've got a X", for example, since "I have a X," is sufficient). It sounds like grammar gripes have trained your ear to hypersensitivity, so that now you're reacting adversly to "got" even if it's just the normal past tense of "get" (and it's hard to justify not using the past tense of a verb, if you'd use the present tense without second thoughts.)

Since you didn't correct "What did you get for Christmas?" this a plausible hypothesis, but only you can find that out.

For the first one, ask yourself what you think about: "I always get emotional watching Casablanca." (The "get" not the sentence. ) If this doesn't bother you, you've porbably internalised and overgeneralised a grammar gripe.

No one has really griped that it is wrong, it just sounds off to me. "I always get emotional watching Casablanca." sounds wrong to me, yes. It's used all the time, so I'm used to it, but it seems wrong.

Interesting about the Christmas question, though. I see the word "get" as receiving or retrieving something. And I'm used to hearing that as well. So, I am comfortable with that sentence. But "got" just seems off all the way around.

So, I am here for wisdom.

Judg · Feb 8, 2009

Jerry B. Flory said:
Even worse is "I've got." And you hear it everywhere. Even on the X-Files where Mulder is supposed to be an Oxford grad and oughta better know better he still says "I've got."

I want to slap people for saying it let alone writing it down, but, much to my chagrin, it is the way people talk unless they're the kind of people who are really conscious about what they say.

Hm. Problem is, it's perfectly correct English. Stylistically, you might not appreciate it, but that doesn't make it incorrect.

"Gotten" is a moot point. It is an archaic form in Britain, but alive and kicking in North America.

Judg · Feb 8, 2009

Check "get" in the dictionary. It's a very, very long entry. Because it can mean so many things, it is often a less forceful word than "buy, obtain, become" or whatever. But there is nothing wrong with the word per se. Whether it's the best choice in any individual sentence depends on a lot of factors: style, rhythm, etc.

FeatherLite · Feb 8, 2009

Thanks to all of you.

The Lonely One · Feb 8, 2009

Judg said:
Check "get" in the dictionary. It's a very, very long entry. Because it can mean so many things, it is often a less forceful word than "buy, obtain, become" or whatever. But there is nothing wrong with the word per se. Whether it's the best choice in any individual sentence depends on a lot of factors: style, rhythm, etc.

Hmm.

*decides to bow to Judg on the matter...

Judg · Feb 8, 2009

Wow. Bowing. I could get used to this.

Mad Queen · Feb 8, 2009

'I've got' is just a harmless idiom. It means 'I have' and that's it. 'I got a new car', though: Did you buy it? Steal it? Did someone give it to you? It's very imprecise.

But I have (I've got?) an aversion to the verb 'step'. What's wrong with 'walk' or 'go'? Even 'get' is better than 'step' to my eye.

Lyxdeslic · Feb 8, 2009

Devil Ledbetter said:
My favorite example of the proper time to use "got."

You should get a dog.

I have a dog.

You should get a real dog.

I've got a real dog.

Yeah, don't get it. Sorry, Ms. Ledbetter.

Why do you use "got" at all in the second hi-lited example? Why not: I have a real dog. To me, "have"--whether in contraction form or not--coupled with "got" is redundant.

Devil Ledbetter · Feb 8, 2009

Lyxdeslic said:
Yeah, don't get it. Sorry, Ms. Ledbetter. Why do you use "got" at all in the second hi-lited example? Why not: I have a real dog. To me, "have"--whether in contraction form or not--coupled with "got" is redundant.

In this example, it's used for emphasis.

C.bronco · Feb 8, 2009

I only use it as the past tense of "get."

I'm not helping, am I?

semilargeintestine · Feb 8, 2009

Lyxdeslic said:
Yeah, don't get it. Sorry, Ms. Ledbetter. Why do you use "got" at all in the second hi-lited example? Why not: I have a real dog. To me, "have"--whether in contraction form or not--coupled with "got" is redundant.

Agreed. There's no need for got and have in a sentence like that.

ETA: I also understand what you mean by, that's when it's needed. There's a certain emphasis of "rack off" with that.

Deleted member 42 · Feb 8, 2009

scarletpeaches said:
I just hate 'gotten'.

It makes me cry bitter tears.

Got is one of those dialect marker words, used far more by Americans than anyone else, and still viewed with extreme suspicion by many of us.

Here's the deal; long ago, Got, go, and have were all "helping verbs" for various Germanic languages, all of which mutated and cross-bred to create the lovely messed-up hybrid we call English.

Get, for the curious, is related to/cognate with guess, prison, prehensile, surprise and prey. Really!

Got / Get have never really been socially acceptable since, but in terms of writing, it's generally not seen as a good thing to use get as a passive construction--"We got drunk and partied"--in formal English. You can read all about it here.

Do note, though, how many of our common colloquial idioms use get/got.

Bartholomew · Feb 8, 2009

Medievalist said:
Got is one of those dialect marker words, used far more by Americans than anyone else, and still viewed with extreme suspicion by many of us.

Here's the deal; long ago, Got, go, and have were all "helping verbs" for various Germanic languages, all of which mutated and cross-bred to create the lovely messed-up hybrid we call English.

Get, for the curious, is related to/cognate with guess, prison, prehensile, surprise and prey. Really!

Got / Get have never really been socially acceptable since, but in terms of writing, it's generally not seen as a good thing to use get as a passive construction--"We got drunk and partied"--in formal English. You can read all about it here.

Do note, though, how many of our common colloquial idioms use get/got.

It's also the only way we can really replicate certain reflexive Spanish verbs.

The word "got"

Why is a raven like a writing desk?

Down Under Fan

Come on you stranger, you legend,

under the Milky Way

punny user title, here

BassGirl 5000

BassGirl 5000

DISENCHANTED coming soon

DISENCHANTED coming soon

Why is a raven like a writing desk?

DISENCHANTED coming soon

California Mountain Snake

Laughing every time I choke.

Come on you stranger, you legend,

I have plans...

BassGirl 5000

Deleted member 42

Comic guy