Gotten or Got

I thought it was American
Never heard anyone in east Anglia say gotten

Nor me.

My response being that it had ceased to be used in the UK in the 18th century but it was absolutely correct in American English

My understanding too.

Never heard anyone in south east England use gotten instead of got, except when said by Americans.

Bill Bryson wrote a book in 1990 called Mother Tongue
In it he tells the fascinating evolution of the English language including how words like gotten and forgotten. After reading this I stopped being annoyed about spelling mistakes because as he explained, the writers of the dictionaries decide between right and wrong.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mother_Tongue

Definitely not taught in Irish schools. You do hear younger people using it - presumably picked up from American TV.

i have often heard
gotten hold of something.
am in uk.
may have been older irish people living in uk, from whom i heard this usage.

It’s an Americanism

Thanks so much to everyone for your replies. I was very interested to hear other people's understanding and it certainly seems to align with mine.

I meant to qualify in my original post that I am not referring to young people who seem to have adopted "gotten" as the norm which is most definitely a result of social media or American TV.

Farmor15, I thought it highly unlikely that gotten was taught in Irish schools. I would imagine that English is taught there in the same way it is taught here.

Grammaretto, thanks for the Bill Bryson link, most interesting and I love his books.

I imagine that with so many young people now using the word, it will once more become mainstream in the UK. Language constantly evolves.

Never used "gotten"but do remember being told by my English teacher that "got' was an overused word and I should look for another word to replace it. Don't suppose she would like "gotten" either.

I never heard the word ‘gotten’ when I was in the South of England.
I rarely use the word ‘got’.

Flappergirl I enjoy Bill Bryson's books and own a few but I must have borrowed that one from the library.

Glorianny

Never used "gotten"but do remember being told by my English teacher that "got' was an overused word and I should look for another word to replace it. Don't suppose she would like "gotten" either.

Goodness! Did we go to the same school, Glorianny?

I was brought up in Essex and came north to Durham via Yorkshire. En route I have never heard any British person use 'gotten' instead of 'got'.

I know it was used in English once - did Shakespeare use it? - but now it is definitely American. As far as I’m concerned, it is incorrect in English and should be avoided.

It’s creeping into British journalism, not a word I like!

Yes, Shakespeare used it in Richard III.

I can recall it from my childhood in Liverpool people speaking of "gotten wet" and "gotten in trouble". However it was not and expression used by all classes.

I remember being told to avoid 'got'; 'a lot of' was' was frowned upon as well.

I’ve used it on occasion. Actually quite like it! 😊
As in ‘I’ve gotten used to doing it this way’ for example.

Urms - I think I'd say
"I'm used to doing it this way" - or similar - as "gotten" seems to make things rather wordy somehow.

Glorianny

Never used "gotten"but do remember being told by my English teacher that "got' was an overused word and I should look for another word to replace it. Don't suppose she would like "gotten" either.

That was my experience too. We were advised to use - I received, I have been given, I have, I own, etc. I caught or developed for illnesses.

This was the teacher who also banned the use of 'Nice' from our written work.

I also remember a teacher telling us not to use Nice. She said it wasn’t a proper word.

I’m from south east London and have only heard gotten spoken by young people. I also remember being told not to use ‘nice’.

We were also told not to use nice - with the inevitable result that one girl handed in a composition where almost every other word was ‘nice’. The teacher took it in good part.