--- In cybalist@..., "petegray" <petegray@...> wrote:
> > AmE tends to drop 'have' before 'got'. A simple 'got' usually
means
> > 'have obtained', 'do enjoy the use of'. I got rhythm
>
> Alas, I am not a native speaker of AmE, so I need confirmation of
what you
> have suggested. Would AmE speakers hear phrases like this as
marked for a
> particular register of AmE, or is it actually what might be called
standard
> AmE? I'd have guessed the first!
One native speaker response: For me, it should be 'I've got..., he's
got...' etc.-- synonymous with 'have'. Without that auxiliary, it's
quite informal, slangy, often jocular, definitely a particular
register. To go out on a limb, I'd speculate that "I got..." for "I
have..." may derive from Black American speech, and so ultimately
from Southern US, as someone else suggested. "I got rhythm", in
particular, is firmly associated with the Gershwin song for most
people; and IIRC it comes from "Porgy and Bess", so again, a
definite Black/Southern origin.
As to usage, however, I should warn that I may not be typical: 60-
plus years old, and I was one of those strange kids who actually
enjoyed learning English grammar in school (and it was taught then!).