Gotten or Got

I don’t like gotten at all - it is in the same category as go get - bearable (just about) in the USA but not here. Thankfully, I have not heard anyone say it, either in East Anglia, where l used to live, or the East Midlands, where I now live.

Also, I have spent time with family in the West Midlands and the North West and have never heard it there, either.

Yes I think it is American, too. They hang on to some of the very old English words I notice. My school didn’t like the word, ‘got’ or ‘me’ or ‘my’. One should use ‘one’. Haha - did they think we were princesses or something ?
outofthiscentury.wordpress.com
I found and that backs my theory up !

Everyone over on Mumsnet is "lovely" including neighbours, children, workmates and so so. I find it difficult to believe that ALL those people are beautiful or attractive (the actual meaning of lovely) rather than pleasant, friendly, thoughtful or whatever.

My English teacher also deplored the use of nice. She said it was a mediocre word to describe unremarkable things.

It is an attractive American usage I think. (was going to say "nice").Not commonly used in the midlands when we were young but did hear it used occasionally, almost whimsically.Probably copying Laurel & Hardy.

I often say to my friends 'oh, you look nice' when we meet up and they are wearing something particularly eye-catching. I'm now reminded of my teacher saying nice should be avoided as it was insipid and pretty well meant nothing. Dear me. How could I forget?!

'Nice' used to mean well judging, discriminating, tasteful. Jane Austen had a little rant about its indiscriminate use in Northanger Abbey 200 years ago. She was onto a loser then, and so were our last century English teachers 😆

'Gotten' is Elizabethan English and remains correctly common in the USA. UK English evolved to 'got' but 'gotten' has resurfaced, probably from US films and TV programmes influencing us.

It never went away in some parts of the country, Grantanow!

when a person is described as lovely, i assume it means of character or behaviour, rather than looks.
so i wonder if it has morphed in nuance, or is it perhaps regional.
all those lovely people on MN, are simply being described as good eggs or as fundamentally decent, i think.

re lovely on MN, there is also sometimes a hint of well-meaning but misguided, i think.
again, a moral descriptor, rather than physical appearance.

NotSpaghetti

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.

I would say that "I'm used to doing it this way" has a different - well, slightly different - meaning than "I've gotten/got used to this way".

One would imply that that's the way I've always done it and it's the way I am accustomed to, whilst the other means "I've changed to this way of doing it as opposed to how I did it before and now I've got into the habit"

Splitting hairs, I know, but that's the beauty of English: you can express such nuances.

agree with that nice distinction.

calling anyone north american;
does the word or even the concept of surprise not exist there ?
i am constantly surprised by north americans reporting how shocked they are by things that would merely surprise us in uk.
eg differences in customs, terminology, driving, living in uk from usa.
or someone at work whom they hardly know, giving them a nice (!) xmas present.
we, i, would use the word surprise for something unexpected.
shock, to me, connotes something really serious, unpleasant, horrific, tragic.

Wheniwasyourage

It never went away in some parts of the country, Grantanow!

That's quite possible in some communities, I imagine. Thank you.

I was taught at school that Got is not a proper word and should be never used. Of course there are hundreds of those now.

I absolutely loathe the word gotten. My grandchildren use it, but their step dad is Canadian so they hear it at home. I also dislike them talking about the school bathrooms. I asked them why they had baths at school and they thought I was crazy. Maybe I am!

That is sloppy slang to say gotten.

It’s American I’ve lived in south east for 66 years and not me my family of any of our friends ever say gotten

I’m in the South, never, aside from Americans, have I heard the word “gotten” used!

I am Canadian but have lived in London since I was 22. I tried to fit in and not use words like gotten when I understood they were no longer used here but I still use forgotten sometimes as it just seems natural to me. If you don't like gotten, you probably won't like boughten (not sure of spelling), as was used in my childhood to describe store-bought, rather than homemade, cake!

wow, some of these strong feelings against something that is not a moral issue.
i find it quite extraordinary.
don't wonder if relations are a little frosty.

I've never heard gotten generally used in Scotland.

Americans seem to love extending words, for instance gotten instead of got, smoothening instead of smoothing and burglarising instead of burgling, they also love to verbalise nouns e.g. summiting, and it's getting common on tv such as 'are you ready to Butlins' which I find particulrly irritating, Butlins is a place not a verb.

I dislike "gotten". I was taught "got" was the correct word.

I never heard of "gotten" until I read US based news. In fact, I can't read any articles or books from the US without wanting to correct spelling.