GOTTEN

Eloise posted:

Okay... so sometimes I jest about spelling and punctuation; but at the end of the day written word should be used to express ideas.  What is important is that what you write gets the idea across clearly but without excess waffle. 

I couldn't care less if people use got or gotten; badly use they're and their and there or put apostrophes in the wrong place so long as what they write is ultimately understandable. That doesn't mean punctuation isn't important - a long unpunctuated sentence without splitting into paragraphs is very difficult to read / understand; but its secondary to the message  

What does annoy me (and not suggesting it is happening here) is when people completely ignore the message and criticise the writer for missing an apostrophe or a capital letter. 

Eats shoots and leaves?

Let's eat grandma!

She's a tough old bird.

"Can I get xxxx?" really gets on my top hat.

Person serving should reply, no, I'll serve you xxxx though!

Also see Douglas Adams HHGTTG for guidance of tenses, for when we start to travel backwards and forwards in time!

Shakespeare used "gotten" a number of times across his oeuvre. If it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me. The thing I really, really hate is the use of "z" instead of "s". And what hsve the Yanks got against the letter "u"?

There was an interesting programme on BBC Radio 4 this morning about the very subject of this thread.

Link here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08qxd02

Huge posted:

Eats shoots and leaves?

Clive B posted:

Let's eat grandma!

Not sure if you were trying to help me make my point, or counter it.  But in case the latter...

If someone is writing about a Panda, then on reading a sentence do you really need the appropriate punctuation to know that we are describing a panda's diet as consisting of shoots and leaves, and not saying that he's a machine gun packing mofo?  No I admit that should we be talking about a human who was a little strange then out of context the statement could be ambiguous.

The second even more so doesn't need the punctuation for us to know what is meant.  Again unless you are a bit weird in the head, you know that the statement is a child asking for food, not an incestuous cannibal. 

The context is all important!

BigH47 posted:

Also see Douglas Adams HHGTTG for guidance of tenses, for when we start to travel backwards and forwards in time!

That's just all timey wimey!

Huge posted:

Another thing to note, is that a preposition is not an appropriate word to end a sentence with.

Yoda Grammar that is.

Wow, no mention so far of the misuse of "Can I" instead of "May I"

TOBYJUG posted:

Is it from the cost of Naim ownership becoming more easily attainable in North America - post Brexit debacle for the Pound - that this word    "Gotten"  has been making more appearances within this forum ?

No. Naim is ridiculously overpriced in the USA. Almost as if Naim feels the £ is still 1.60$.

Vive la difference, y'all. When I see "whilst", or "different to" or "I should cocoa", it  just adds to the fun.

It's a good job some of you don't live in the north-west of England!

In some parts, you may be asked "Os't gitten it?" which is likely a contracted form of "Hast thou gotten it?" and means "Have you brought it with you?", "Do you understand?" or "Have you retrieved it (from a place or situation where it was unseen)?" etc. depending on context.

Dialect or regional forms of these modes of speech have been around for centuries, often before any attempt at standardisation.

My paternal grandfather used to greet me with some variation of "How art thee?".

Long live diversity.

Regards,

Vlad

Who mentioned whom?

G

VladtheImpala posted:

It's a good job some of you don't live in the north-west of England!

In some parts, you may be asked "Os't gitten it?" which is likely a contracted form of "Hast thou gotten it?" and means "Have you brought it with you?", "Do you understand?" or "Have you retrieved it (from a place or situation where it was unseen)?" etc. depending on context.

Dialect or regional forms of these modes of speech have been around for centuries, often before any attempt at standardisation.

My paternal grandfather used to greet me with some variation of "How art thee?".

Long live diversity.

Regards,

Vlad

Aye, reet gradely.

Despite spending some years of my education Stateside, it still grates with me when I hear somebody use "dove" in place of "dived".  I believe that "dove" is now accepted in the UK as well as the US, but it still sounds wrong to me.

Richard Dane posted:

Despite spending some years of my education Stateside, it still grates with me when I hear somebody use "dove" in place of "dived".  I believe that "dove" is now accepted in the UK as well as the US, but it still sounds wrong to me.

I used to say 'dove' to be punny...

How does 'sat' instead of 'sitting' sit with you? 

Another one which irritates me is the persistent use of "you and I" instead of the objective pronoun, "you and me".

Clive B posted:

Another one which irritates me is the persistent use of "you and I" instead of the objective pronoun, "you and me".

I'm slightly ambivalent about that, people are trying to be correct which I think I should be kinder to than a lot of the lazy usages commented on above, but at the same time the people who know me best spot the pained twitch every time I hear the misuse.

The English language is full of idiosyncrasies. For example a painting may be "hung" whereas murderers used to be "hanged". 

We use the word "fewer" when referring to items which can be individualised/counted and the word "less" when referring to an homogenised quantity or idea/concept. E.g. fewer rules have resulted in less "red tape".

sjbabbey posted:

The English language is full of idiosyncrasies. For example a painting may be "hung" whereas murderers used to be "hanged". 

We use the word "fewer" when referring to items which can be individualised/counted and the word "less" when referring to an homogenised quantity or idea/concept. E.g. fewer rules have resulted in less "red tape".

 

 

Before I left London nearly 10 years ago, I was amused by the fact that in my 2 local supermarkets, Tesco had "8 item or less" queues, while Waitrose had "6 items or fewer". Know your customers, or as they say on Radio 4 panel shows "There'll be letters!".

Eoink posted:

sjbabbey posted:

The English language is full of idiosyncrasies. For example a painting may be "hung" whereas murderers used to be "hanged". 

We use the word "fewer" when referring to items which can be individualised/counted and the word "less" when referring to an homogenised quantity or idea/concept. E.g. fewer rules have resulted in less "red tape".

 

 

Before I left London nearly 10 years ago, I was amused by the fact that in my 2 local supermarkets, Tesco had "8 item or less" queues, while Waitrose had "6 items or fewer". Know your customers, or as they say on Radio 4 panel shows "There'll be letters!".

So could they be accused of fewer-majesty?

One that continually grates with me is "me neither" instead of the correct (in many cases) "nor I".

And I also find the recently very popular "thus far" in place of "so far" to be irritating, although having looked it up I gather it is acceptable English.

sjbabbey posted:

 

We use the word "fewer" when referring to items which can be individualised/counted and the word "less" when referring to an homogenised quantity or idea/concept. E.g. fewer rules have resulted in less "red tape".

 

 

If only it were so!

Innocent Bystander posted:

One that continually grates with me is "me neither" instead of the correct (in many cases) "nor I".

And I also find the recently very popular "thus far" in place of "so far" to be irritating, although having looked it up I gather it is acceptable English.

I've read this far and no further.

Is that OK?  Somehow it seems more specific to me.