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Is using "have got" together really proper? It seems redundant to me and doesn't sound correct, yet I observe journalists using this quite often.
Instead of:
"They've got the best idea."
Why not:
"They have the best idea."
?
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to my mind...
have got an idea - probably implies obtaining help from outside apart from one's own effort
have an idea - implies pure creativity. An idea that is truly self inspired.
Any takers?
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Joined: Mar 2000
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
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Hey you!
I remember from my youth being told that 'only the lower classes' (they didn't mince words in my youth) use 'have got'. This didn't, I suspect, stop Shakespeare and other luminaries using it whenever they felt it appropriate (Shakespeare's an easy one, since he happily broke anything we consider a grammatical rule).
cheer
the sunshine warrior
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
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I may be lower but I have got class.
Seriously ,tho' we do use have to modify the tense of other verbs (I have been using it), why not this one?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
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'Have got' always indicates possession, but 'have' need not do so. For example: She's got a bath (not just a shower) v. She has a bath (every morning).
Bingley
Bingley
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I agree with Bingly here. "Have got" should imply possession or receipt. People often say, for example, "I've got a cold," but, grammatically speaking, they'd be more correct to say "I have a cold."
In a slightly different context, one might say, for example, "I was with my ailing nephew, and now I've gotten a cold." Note, however that one would use "gotten" here, instead of got.
Similarly, I think, one might say, "I got it in the mail," to express receipt of a letter; but one could say, "I have gotten it in the mail," to imply that the letter is now in possession of the lettercarrier.
Occasionally, I think, it's fairly common usage to use have got for emphasis, as in: "You have GOT to be kidding!"
The 'have got' construction has been around forever. I remember the old TV program I've Got A Secret. When we were learning our grammar, way back then, I called this to my teacher's attention and, though she was a pretty strict grammarian herself, she admitted that this had escaped her notice, gave me extra points for my vigilance.
Interestingly enough, the show was sponsored by a cigarette company (yes, I'm that old), whose catch-phrase was "Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should". This, of course, should be: ...as a cigarette should.
But I digress.
Ron.
Ron.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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For me, it's more of a mouth feel thing; seems the distinction is losing ground. Also, at the risk of starting Revolutionary War III, would it be fair to say that Brits use "have got" a lot more often, and in more contexts, than us North American colonials? And what about y'all antipodean up-overs?
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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As the doughty sunshine warrior (??) says, we were taught at school that ‘got’ used in this sense was redundant and not proper usage. “He told me to get it, so I got it” was just about acceptable, but rather an ugly construction and it was safest to avoid ‘got’ altogether. It is, nevertheless, frequently used.
‘Gotten’ is strictly US usage and I don’t think I have heard it used here in the UK other than in fun.
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old hand
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old hand
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Agree - gotten, though of respectable provenance (I understand), is not used by UKians.
And 'got' appears to have been creamed by cod snobbery. Just as you are unlikely ever to see the word 'me' in business letters - all the anxious arrivistes use 'myself'.
Bless.
cheer
the sunshine "more doughy than doughty" warrior
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Is no one other than me (sorry shanks, ..myself  ) getting a strong feeling of 'procure' with 'have got'?
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