Comments | linguaphiles: Expressing Possession

studentsnark in linguaphiles

Expressing Possession

Feb 28, 2012 11:37

How do you say that something belongs to you or that you own something? I've been very curious about this, because I've noticed that I say "I've got that book" or "I haven't got any of that," while most people I know say would be equally likely to say "I have a cat" or "I've got a cat." But they would always say "I don't have that."

It's the second ( Read more... )

syntax, english, accents, english dialects, american english

Comments 23

muckefuck February 28 2012, 16:42:18 UTC

I grew up in the US and had always said "I don't have" until I got to Germany, where I took a part-time job teaching English and the materials we used were British. They taught "I haven't got" so I was forced to change my usage so as not to confuse the students. Since then, I've always considered "don't have" an American usage and "haven't got" British, but I imagine the picture is more nuanced than that.

A third possibility you don't mention is "I got", "I don't/ain't got". This usage was beaten out of us in grammar school.

studentsnark February 28 2012, 16:43:37 UTC

Oooh, you're right. I've never really heard that one, before, though, so I guess I forgot about it! Oops. Thanks for your input!

akibare February 28 2012, 17:08:40 UTC

I'll agree with this. By default I believe I say "I don't have" but like you I was introduced to "I haven't got" later on, in my case in EFL classes (which were American-based for the most part, but not entirely - and some things were just plain stiff to my ear).

My normal English is from the US (I currently live in Illinois, as a kid I had influence from NYC via my parents).

...I should edit to admit that I do also say "I ain't got" ("I ain't got time for that!!!") and "I don't got" ("I don't got any money"). In fact I even teach those things to my friends, when they ask. I tell them not to use those in formal contexts, but sometimes they are EXACTLY what you need to shed that "foreigner who surely only learned English from a book" image. They can give that coveted "ah, they must have lived here a while" aura.

switchercat February 28 2012, 16:44:08 UTC

"I've got a cat" and "I haven't got a cat" both sound non-American to me.

... I'm American and I use "I've got/I haven't got" constructions pretty often, actually. But I think that that inclination is heavily influenced by British media I've consumed -- mostly books I read as a child. And (it seems to me) I use them more or less equivalently with "I have/I don't have."

studentsnark February 28 2012, 16:46:46 UTC

Huh, very interesting. "I've got a cat" has never sounded particularly non-American to me, but, now that I think about it, it does seem that way. Though my friends, mostly American, usually say it just as regularly as "I have a cat." Maybe they've been influenced, too.

switchercat February 28 2012, 16:51:03 UTC

Yeah, I don't think it's incredibly noticeable as a difference. Nobody's ever called me out on sounding funny while using those phrases, but, like I said, I can definitely trace my acquisition of them back to non-American sources.

icanseenow February 28 2012, 16:44:31 UTC

Non-native here.

To me "I don't have that" sounds a lot more American to me while "I haven't got that" sounds either British or ... well-educated American.

These folks http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=229035&langid=3
disagree and
say the best would be "I haven't that" but that sounds a bit... posh to me? Or just weird, really.

switchercat February 28 2012, 16:48:36 UTC

"I haven't that" is odd, but I could more easily imagine somebody saying something like "I haven't any idea." It sounds affected to me, though, at least in my dialect.

muckefuck February 28 2012, 16:58:03 UTC

For some reason, it sounds more acceptable to me with abstracts: "I haven't any idea/a clue/the vaguest notion/etc."

studentsnark February 28 2012, 17:00:54 UTC

Like, "I haven't the foggiest (idea)?" That's very non-American, but it sounds perfect to my ears. I wouldn't say it because it would never come to me at the time (I'd say, "I have no idea," probably).

Thread 7

mamculuna February 28 2012, 17:05:09 UTC

From the southeastern US. Now oddly, I think I'm more likely to use "got" in both positive and negative constructions with a plural object.

I have a cat.
I've got some books.
I don't have a cat.
I haven't got any money.

Maybe it's the "some" and "any" that make "got" work for me with plural objects.

(The comment has been removed)

ditdatdo February 28 2012, 17:38:30 UTC

I dunno, I'm English and I reckon I've probably said something like "I don't have one" before, though I do prefer "I haven't got" or "I ain't got". For some reason "I don't have" doesn't seem massively American to me.

"I got" and "I don't got", on the other hand...