Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/25901
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/25901
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

English is a development of Anglo Saxon and old Norse with many borrowings from Latin, mostly via Norman French, thanks to the Norman conquest of 1066. For a long time after the conquest, the nobility spoke French and the peasantry spoke Anglo Saxon. This is the reason our names for animals on the hoof are Saxon (cow, pig) and for animals on the plate are French (beef, pork).

For centuries after English became the language of the upper crust as well as the lower, a more "gentile" English was maintained as a form of class distinction. This is why polite English grammar had so many rules based on Latin grammar (can't split an infinitive, can't end a sentence with a proposition). Among those who want to distinguish themselves from the rough and uneducated classes, many of these pro-latinate prejudices remain.

However, in the 20th century there was a significant movement which condemned the latinate approach as pretentious and urged the use of plain Anglo Saxon words whenever possible. Thus George Orwell in _Politics and the English Language_ ([http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e\_polit/](http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit/)):

> Bad writers, and especially scientific, political, and sociological writers, are nearly always haunted by the notion that Latin or Greek words are grander than Saxon ones, and unnecessary words like expedite, ameliorate, predict, extraneous, deracinated, clandestine, subaqueous, and hundreds of others constantly gain ground from their Anglo-Saxon numbers(1). The jargon peculiar to Marxist writing (hyena, hangman, cannibal, petty bourgeois, these gentry, lackey, flunkey, mad dog, White Guard, etc.) consists largely of words translated from Russian, German, or French; but the normal way of coining a new word is to use Latin or Greek root with the appropriate affix and, where necessary, the size formation. It is often easier to make up words of this kind (deregionalize, impermissible, extramarital, non-fragmentary and so forth) than to think up the English words that will cover one's meaning. The result, in general, is an increase in slovenliness and vagueness.

In his brief set of rules for writing good English (the best style guide out there, IMHO) Orwell also said:

> Never use a long word where a short one will do.

In short, "got" is good plain English usage, and it is pretentious and elitist to use a longer word where "got" will do. Of course, there are lots of pretentious and elitist people in positions of authority and judgement, so you must decide when to stand for the good plain English of the common people and when to trim your sails to the wind that blows.

Original score: 3