How the use of a word in the Guardian has gotten some readers upset | Elisabeth Ribbans
www.theguardian.com
‘Got’ was changed during the editing of an opinion piece, leading to correspondence lamenting a slide into American English. But language isn’t a fortress, says the Guardian’s global readers’ editor Elisabeth Ribbans

In Shakespeare’s Henry VI, Part II, a messenger breathlessly announces to the king that, “Jack Cade hath gotten London bridge”. Hold this late 16th-century text in mind as we fast forward to last week when Martin Kettle, associate editor and columnist at the Guardian in the UK, was seen to suggest in an opinion piece that, if King Charles has pushed the boundaries of neutrality, such as with his speech to open the new Canadian parliament, he has so far “gotten away with it”.

In a letter published the next day, a reader asked teasingly if this use of “gotten” – and another writer’s reference to a “faucet” – were signs the Guardian had fallen into line with Donald Trump’s demand that news agencies adopt current US terminology, such as referring to the “Gulf of America”.

Another, who wrote to me separately, had first seen the article in the print edition and expected subeditors (or copy editors, if you wish) would eventually catch up and remove “gotten”, which “is not a word in British English”. She was surprised to find the online version not only unchanged but with the phrase repeated in the headline.

… and I would have gotten away with it, too, if not for you pesky kids and your mangy dog.

  • jarfil@beehaw.org
    2·
    2 days ago

    You’ve gotten to be kidding… /s

    As an English as an n-th language speaker, I’m much less picky about regional dialects, and tend to bunch them all up together… then rely on autocorrect — or the occasional Google search — to pick up on slang and regionalisms.

    From a correlation to Spanish/Latin tenses, and the etymology of “got + -en”, I got the impression that “gotten” was closer to a strictly pluscuamperfect meaning, with “got” being a more simplified replacement for all past participles.

    Does that make any sense?

  • Geodad@beehaw.org
    3·
    3 days ago

    I won’t concede any part of American English until they start pronouncing “aluminum” instead of “aluminium”.

    We found the element, so we got to name it, and it doesn’t matter if it breaks with the naming convention that was already established.

    • Pete Hahnloser@beehaw.orgOPEnglish
      4·
      3 days ago

      That misses the whole part of the article.

      I can launch into a tirade using Southern English, but I choose not to. Nana was English (you’ll note that I sometimes don’t lump it into the UK), so when I was up in Seattle visiting, I heard “aluminium” a lot.

      “Here’s,” as my college roommate would say, “this about that.” It’s inconsistent with other elements on the periodic table, sure. We don’t speak of “sodum” or any such nonsense. Caesesum would be a terrible idea to throw into a lake.

      It’s just customary. We don’t have the same size pints, either, but no one’s up in arms.

      • Geodad@beehaw.org
        1·
        3 days ago

        It’s just a weird thing I have now that I’m a chemistry major. 🤣

        I love my friends and family across the pond.

        I often pull out that linguistically, my Appalachian dialect of English is closer to Elizabethan English than anything else spoken today. 🙂

        In the end, it doesn’t really matter to anyone except pedants.