get vs. receive/become

[Wilson Gray]

Hmm. I've never before heard of anyone getting reprimanded for using "get"
in the senses of "receive" or "become." You never know.
However, I do wish that someone would try to maintain the distinction
between "bring" and "take." Not likely to happen, but I've gotten tired of
hearing what was once a clear distinction disappear into the sunset of
language change. But, what can you do? The shift from "not to" to "to not"
didn't kill me. I can survive this.

-Wilson

On Sun, Sep 20, 2009 at 11:40 AM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      get vs. receive/become
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Fifty years ago an English teacher told us, "Never say 'get' when you mean
> 'receive' or 'become.'"  That seemed pretty weird at the time and has only
> gotten [sic] weirder.
>
> Yesterday a highly-educated CNN news anchor, age ca40, said (I paraphrase
> slightly): "And we've gotten some feedback....I mean we've recieved some
> feedback. My mother would say, '_Gotten_ ? What kind of language is that?'
> Mom might be listening so I'd better watch my grammar.  We've received
> feedback..."
>
> Is this odd taboo so widespread? So terrifying that a news anchor earning
> nine or ten figures would correct herself on the air and apologize to Mom?
>
> I guess yes.
>
> JL
>
> --
> "There You Go Again...Using Reason on the Planet of the Duck-Billed
> Platypus"
>
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>



-- 
-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to come
from the mouths of people who have had to live.
–Mark Twain

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