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Actually I would have *gotten* it wrong OtB

Posted By: Chuck Bower
Date: Saturday, 6 February 2010, at 5:10 p.m.

In Response To: Actually I would have *gotten* it wrong OtB (Ian Shaw)

"...If it ain't broke, don't fix it" sounds like an American saying; in England the normal usage is 'broken'.

LOL! I believe this sentence qualifies as 'colloquialism' or 'regionalism'. I doubt you'd find someone from Baston or New Yawk saying it this way. The correct (when I was growing up, anyway) grammar would be if it isn't broken, don't fix it. Of course I'm sure you knew the isn't/ain't malady, and maybe the broke/broken one as well (with tongue in cheek).

Ironically 'ain't' is a logical contraction for "am not", for which a formal version does not exist. Languages seem to be more about convention/tradition than about logic.

I'm still amazed that "have got" is correct. That would have gotten the backs of your hands wacked with a baton if you'd have said such a thing in my schools.

Pragmatic conclusion is that if you get your point across, getten on with it.

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