Quote:
Originally Posted by montsnmags
some may be words that stayed here but fell out of use back there
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The same is true with many words we think of today (in the UK) as "Americanisms"; they are, in fact, ordinary English words which were commonplace in the 18th century, and which have remained in use in the US, but become obsolete here. A good example is the past participle of the verb "get" - "gotten". We think of it today as "American", but it's simply a grammatical form that we've stopped using in the UK (it occurs frequently in Shakespeare), but which has stayed in use in the US.
(And we still use it in expressions like "illgotten gains").