A wise woman (and she, too, was a writer) once told me that everyone, especially writers, had a pet peeve word. One that haunted them; one that made them cringe whenever they read it; one that was everywhere all at once. For me, that word is got.

You got it. I got it. Get it? Got. We use it all the time. Perhaps we use it too much. Got is one of the most overused and misused words in the English language. Got the idea? It’s got to be an overused got, to the point of being an annoyance every time you see the written word, got.

What does got really mean? Dictionary.com defines got as a simple past tense and past participle of get. It can also mean to have in one’s possession. So, get, is somehow related to the verb to have. Got as the past tense of the verb get is also related to the verb to have. Still following me? Good, because when you say, I have got to go to the store, perhaps you are really saying, I have had to go to the store. Doesn’t make sense, does it? Why? Because got has become so ingrained in our casual vocabulary that it can, and often does, mean just about anything. It’s become a very un-creative word and creative writers love to overuse it. Get it? Got it. Wouldn’t it make more sense to simply say (or write): I have to go to the store.

Get and its past tense, got, has been around for centuries. It’s not just a twenty-first century word of convenience. As early as the twelfth century, the Middle English used geten, a derivative of the Old Norse, geta, meaning to obtain, beget, something that was a derivative of something else. Forms of get were found in the thirteenth century Old Norse, Proto-Germanic, Swedish, Greek, Old Church Slavonic, to name but a few. To put it simply, get and got have been around for some time. That certainly doesn’t give get and got license to overuse and misuse.

The twentieth and twenty-first century’s craving to simplify the English language has engrained too many gots into our vocabulary. The word got is not only overused, it’s also misused to a point that it is redundant. It’s in the vernacular of contemporary dialogue, so when writing or reading dialogue, one expects to find plenty of gots. However, the word itself really says very little and it’s not useful in a descriptive passage.

Let’s look at the following example: "After work, I got some groceries. I got bread, milk and bananas. I got home and got my supper. After supper, I got into bed."

Believe me, I have read many passages like the above, every sentence using another got. It starts to get annoying, doesn’t it? Wouldn’t it be better (and more creatively descriptive) to say something like: "After work, I purchased some groceries. I bought bread, milk and bananas. I came home and prepared supper. Once I had finished supper, I cleaned the kitchen and went to bed."

Not one got or get in the entire passage. Perhaps the writer could be more creative and make the story really move along: "After work, I hustled through the grocery store, picking up a few much-needed items like bread, milk and bananas. I loaded the car with my purchases and drove home in the busy rush hour traffic. I took my groceries into the house and put things away before making supper. After I had finished eating, I tidied the kitchen and turned out the lights before mounting the stairs to my bedroom. I changed and climbed into bed, exhausted after a long day at work."

Once again, not one got or get in the entire passage. And it flows so much more smoothly, don’t you think?

The bottom line is that got is just too easy to use. It’s kind of like a copout word. It has become ingrained in our vernacular dialogue and it’s now ingrained in our way of writing. It’s a word with multiple meanings and connotations, while, at the same time, it can also mean nothing at all and is therefore redundant. So, why use it at all? Basically, it’s a very un-creative word, and, as writers, we want to be creative in our vocabulary. For the reader, it’s annoying to read a story full of gots. Take a look at your own work. Circle all of the gots. Have you overused and/or abused the word?

Got is an unavoidable word in dialogue, for the most part, because that’s the way North Americans talk. It’s part of our culture, our language, our vernacular. In narrative, however, got should be avoided. Be creative. There’s always a better word to use than got. In fact, to help you along, dictionary.com has provided us with a list of synonyms: obtain, acquire, procure, secure, win, gain, apprehend, grasp, induce, dispose ….  

Using a synonym or a more descriptive phrase instead of got will certainly make the story more interesting. Don’t force your reader to stumble over got after got after got. Get it? Once you start thinking about it, about the word got, you’ll probably cringe every time you see or hear the word. I know I do.

My suggestion? Avoid the word got. Use your ingenuity and find something more suitable to your story or poem. Get away from the got fascination invasion. After all, there’s gotta be a better word than got.