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According to what I was taught as school, the past tense of 'get' is 'got' and 'gotten' is "an American corruption and, therefore, is not a proper word".

Example:

"Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?"
— opening lines for Auld Lang Syne

Note that this is not as follows, which seems to be popular usage:

"Should auld acquaintance be forgotten,
And never brought to mind?"

Agi Hammerthief
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    Are you asking about gotten or forgotten? There's a difference. – Peter Shor Aug 30 '15 at 18:53
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    Comparing something written in 18th century Scot(tish?) English to language used in the 21st century is a specious argument at best. "Google", "selfie", and "video game" are real words which do not appear in any of Burns' wonderful works. We hardly ever see "sleekit" in English today, or "gang aft aglay" for that matter. Language changes, and to try to reduce this phenomenon to arbitrary rules is a waste of time, really. You've only gotten this answer because I love Robert Burns, who played with language a bit himself. – anongoodnurse Aug 30 '15 at 18:55
  • Short summary: have forgot: in use in English 200 years ago, no longer used in standard British or American English; have gotten: in use in English 300 years ago, no longer used in the U.K. but fine in the U.S. – Peter Shor Aug 30 '15 at 19:01
  • @medica Of course additions to a language don't appear in the usage of that language prior to their addition; how could they? I don't see how that makes my question/argument specious. Take, for example, common usage of 'literally', as in "I literally died laughing when I watched that." 'Popular'/'common' usage doesn't mean 'correct' usage.

    Combine those two comments (particularly @PeterShor's) into an answer and I'll accept it.

     – Agi Hammerthief Aug 30 '15 at 19:02
  • Before stating that gotten is a bastardization, have you looked it up in any online dictionary? Often the etymology is also included. – Mari-Lou A Aug 30 '15 at 19:05
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    @Agi: literally has been used figuratively for over 200 years (and gotten has been used for over 500). Your examples of recent bastardization of the English language are not well-chosen. – Peter Shor Aug 30 '15 at 19:07
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    Related 1. Difference between “I have got” and “I have gotten” and 2. “I've gotten better-looking as I get older” When did “gotten” re-enter the BrEng vernacular? and 3. Should I use “got” or “gotten” in the following sentence? – Mari-Lou A Aug 30 '15 at 19:09
  • @Mari-LouA: The Cambridge English Dictionary states "US" as the source. – Agi Hammerthief Aug 30 '15 at 19:10
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    No, it doesn't. You've given me the link where it states British English! :) see here: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=gotten 'tis Old English, 900 AD or thereabouts. See this very good article: http://www.sarahwoodbury.com/on-the-use-of-the-word-gotten/ – Mari-Lou A Aug 30 '15 at 19:14
  • @Mari-LouA Give me an answer quoting the relevant passage from the Sarah Woodbury piece and I'll accept. – Agi Hammerthief Aug 30 '15 at 19:26
  • Your language is offensive and does not belong here. Please remove it. – tchrist Aug 30 '15 at 19:29
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    @tchrist- Don’t you mean, “and should be gotten rid of.”? – Jim Aug 30 '15 at 19:33
  • @tchrist It's a debate. If you find any language to be "offensive", perhaps you don't belong here. Nobody is insulting any other person or using unsavoury expletives. – Agi Hammerthief Aug 30 '15 at 19:41
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    This is not a debate: it is a Q&A site. Using bastardization in conjunction with American English with the allegation that it is “therefore not a proper word” is completely offensive to Americans and has no place here. I for the third time ask you to remove it. You should also not go around telling people they do not belong here: that's also offensive language. – tchrist Aug 30 '15 at 19:53
  • My apologies. The word I should have used is "corruption", as in "alteration, as of language or a text". Besides, is it not your opinion that it is offensive to Americans? What proof have you that this is fact? Have all Americans told you this is so? Neither did I state that you do not belong here; I suggested it. However, this is all splitting hairs ... – Agi Hammerthief Aug 30 '15 at 19:59
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    Here is another interesting article on the perceived "inferiority" of AmEnglish, something which even Prince Charles has been guilty of. Good stuff: http://www.pbs.org/speak/ahead/change/ruining/ Let bygones be bygones, enough of this quibbling! – Mari-Lou A Aug 30 '15 at 20:20
  • It is not at all offensive to Americans. It is simply normal American English (not UK English, which doesn't make the same distinctions). Nor is it a corruption; it's simply a dialectal difference, like the fact that RP has an extra low back vowel that American English doesn't have. This discussion of how gotten is actually used is the most popular thing on my website -- I've logged well over half a million hits on it. And, as you can see, it's still not understanded of the people. – John Lawler Aug 30 '15 at 22:42
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    Americans, including myself, are not corrupting, though not incorruptible. The world has been better off generally with us around (except for the corrupting influence of American missionaries against gender equality and neutrality in Africa). – Blessed Geek Aug 30 '15 at 23:02

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From Sarah Woodbury's website: Romance and Fantasy in Medieval Wales

On the use of the word ‘gotten’

Several UK readers have wondered about the use of the word ‘gotten’ in my medieval mysteries. Since the word is not in common usage in England right now, it seems odd to them to read it at all, and a glaring ‘Americanism’ in a book set in the medieval period. At first glance, this might appear to be yet another instance of ‘two countries separated by a common language,’ but as it turns out, the history of the word ‘gotten’ is a lot more interesting than that.

‘Gotten’ is, in fact, an ancient English word that was in use in England at the time America was colonized by the English. Over the centuries, the Americans kept on using it and the English did not.

Origin: 1150-1200(v.) Middle English geten < Old Norse geta to obtain, beget; cognate with Old English –gietan (> Middle English yeten), German-gessen, in vergessen to forget; (noun) Middle English: something gotten, offspring, derivative of the v.

The British author quotes from reference.dot.com, whose the page is now obsolete.

“British English discontinued the use of “have gotten” as a form of the past participle for “get” over 300 years ago. […]. It is now rarely used in the British version of the English language. American English continues to use “have gotten” to emphasis the action performed. In American English language “has got” implies possession. It is assumed that if “has got” is used that it is referencing what the person has in their possession. On the other hand, “has gotten” implies that the person acquired, received or obtained an item.”

In brief, gotten is a perfectly legitimate word with a long and glorious history.

Mari-Lou A
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    Additional relevant link: Oxford English Dictionary states the following: "As past participles of get, got and gotten both date back to Middle English. The form gotten is not used in British English but is very common in North American English." – Agi Hammerthief Aug 30 '15 at 19:54
  • Here's another interesting link. It's a Google ngram comparing the two words in AmE and BrE. I'll let others draw their own conclusions. https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=got%3Aeng_gb_2012%2Cgotten%3Aeng_gb_2012%2Cgotten%3Aeng_us_2012%2Cgot%3Aeng_us_2012&year_start=1500&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cgot%3Aeng_gb_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cgotten%3Aeng_gb_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cgotten%3Aeng_us_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cgot%3Aeng_us_2012%3B%2Cc0 – chasly - supports Monica Aug 30 '15 at 21:22
  • Ah, the pioneering spirit of the Brits at work. – Edwin Ashworth Aug 30 '15 at 22:02