Minding our language on the use of Americanisms | Letters

Readers share their views on the evolution of the English language, in response to an article by Elisabeth Ribbans on the use of ‘gotten’The continual expansion of the English language is inevitable and welcome. But while Elisabeth Ribbans is right that “it would be a mistake to regard language as a fortress”, it is not unreasonable to lament the effect of some invasive species whose proliferation is so rapid that native alternatives face possible extinction (How the use of a word in the Guardian has gotten some readers upset, 4 June).“Gotten” may be an innocuous, if inelegant, English word making a return journey from the US, but some other US variants are more problematic. For example, the phrase “Can I get …?” is suffocating more polite ways of making a request, such as “May I/can I have …?” or simply “I’d like …”. It is also annoyingly inaccurate, since in most cases the person asking has no intention of helping themselves and wouldn’t be allowed to, even if they wanted to. Continue reading...

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