Tag: The New Yorker

The New Yorker magazine uses so many Britishisms that it should rightfully be called The Yorker.

Onward and upward with “had got”

I have noted the New Yorker’s insistence on having its writers use the British “had got” instead of American “had gotten.” But the magazine seems to have kicked things up a notch; now, people being quoted are required to use it as well. In an April 25 profile of Reed Krakoff, CEO of Coach Leather, Krakoff recalls a period when “I had got poison ivy on my hands.”‘ I submit that every American, of which Krakoff is one, would have said gotten. Anyone disagree?

Stag dos and don’ts

My friend Nanette Tobin and I are eagerly (though maybe quixotically) looking forward to the day when leaving do, meaning “going-away party” enters the American lexicon. In the meantime, we will have to content ourselves with this similar formulation, from the May 2, 2011, New Yorker:

Weddings are a big deal in Great Britain, where “hen parties” and “stag dos” often involve vomiting on the street corners of Magaluf.