When would you say "I seen it."

Question

I am not looking for explanations of why "I seen it" is wrong (though with sight there's an unfair grammatical burden that doesn't impact the other senses, whose past tense and past participle are the same - hear, heard, heard... feel, felt, felt... et cetera).

I want to know from the snoots here: in which circumstances might you actually say "I seen it."?

By way of explanation: my work sometimes takes me to places, and to people, where and to whom "I have seen it" would stand out as strange. So do I conform (let me hear you descriptivists!) or do I stand out (shout it out prescriptivists)?

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Okay, I'm adding to my question here because there's been some negative feedback (some even calling the question "dumb"). I think it's a valid sociolinguistic question, not just one about what is said in certain dialects or which dialects use a certain expression. It's related to the issue of prestige (regular and covert), code switching, and perhaps a kind of circumstantial inversion of class aspiration.

That is, are there circumstances when you (fellow ELU members) might want to use restricted, rather than elaborated, code. Many - as evidenced by the most popular answer - flatly say "never." Others appear game to explore the idea, and there are some interesting answers that do indeed address my question.

I've chosen what I myself perceive as a fairly crass example (at least in my own speech community), one that seems to divide the educated from the uneducated. I realize this is not necessarily the case in all English-speaking regions, but it is in mine. I've chosen this because I found myself contemplating whether I myself would ever find it somehow useful to use it. To be honest, I don't think I could use it without feeling it was terribly affected.

I know it's incorrect grammatically. That doesn't mean it has no currency.

And I will not be offended if anyone considers the question crass by association (with the utterance at issue) or unenlightening and therefore chooses to simply ignore it and move on to another question.

Answer 1

"I wouldn't." (That's the answer you'd get from most people here, I bet.)

Answer 2

I, as a Texan, will--in informal contexts and/or when talking with those whose main dialect is "Texan" or "Southern" (I don't think they're the same thang)--say I seen it with absolutely no tinge of embrassment or abasement when, for instance, a fellow Texan/Southerner "axe" me "You seen this movie yet?" and the question does not require the response I done seen it.

I also say "I might could" and "I'm fixin to."

Answer 3

"I've seen it" corrects the grammar and does not sound pretentious. Go for the subtly correct middle ground!

Whether and when to correct someone else's grammar, on the other hand--that probably requires a separate question. For one thing, you're getting into "correct" vs "dialect" and that is a very gray area. I would not walk into that quagmire--either the theoretical or the social one, but especially the social one--without a very good reason.

If you have employees that might embarrass the company when they are offsite, maybe. It's a hard question when one man's dialect is another man's incorrect grammar. I used to cringe when my very intelligent quantum physics professor pronounced "math" with an "f" at the end, because it made me embarrassed for him. He also used the "nook-you-lur" pronunciation of "nuclear". In my opinion, someone close to him should have had a gentle conversation with that man well before he received his PhD and told him that he was likely to come off as less educated than he was by using those pronunciations.

But I would not even think about doing that with an employee/coworker unless I really, really knew them well enough to know that they were not likely to sue me/the company for discrimination over it.

IF for some reason you feel you have to bring it up, find some way to put all the negative spin on the hoity-toity Yankees you are going to meet with. Tell them that there are certain Southern phrases that will kind of grate on the ears of these inexplicably picky northerners, so, for the sake of their pansy sensibilities, we have to practice how to speak Northern when we're up there.

But, like I said before, the question of when and whether to bring something like that up probably needs its own question.

Answer 4

Fundamentally, my answer is the same as Centaurus': I wouldn't.

I'm more interested in addressing the secondary questions you posed in the comments.

I mean, are there zero fathomable conversational/social circumstances in which you would knowingly break what you consider an acceptable (by your own definition) form? I'm curious about circumstances in which the hardcore language aficionados on this site would alter their speech in certain ways and whether they preach correct usage to those who don't give a damn

Of course there are circumstances when I would (and do!) speak in forms that would make my English teacher wince. My vehement rejection of "I seen it" is not because I am some paragon of English virtue.

You picked a fairly polarizing phrase, one that has strong connotations of certain regions/dialects and socio-economic backgrounds. Phrases like that are fraught with social peril. If you use it outside the region/dialect, you would be regarded with mockery, scorn, or strange looks. Even within the region, an "outsider" using the phrase would likely be viewed as laughable, ignorant or possibly even offensive.

One could argue that if you spend enough time someplace you might cease to be considered an outsider, but I'm not convinced. In my experience, saying 'y'all' with a Yankee accent gets you odd looks no matter how long you've lived in the South :)

So for those reasons, it is difficult for me to imagine a circumstance where I would ever use that particular phrase. Less-polarized phrases - that's another story.

As far as preaching goes, I believe modeling proper usage is far more effective. That doesn't mean you need to speak in stilted English all the time. As others have mentioned, "I've seen it" is a perfectly reasonable compromise.

Answer 5

Only when assuming strong Southern American English or AAVE for (likely comic) effect.

Answer 6

During DIY rehab, I frequently employ an ESL laborer I have since become good friends with. I use the broken Spanish I've learned from him to say similar grammatically incorrect statements to him en espanol, easily understood. He uses his broken English to respond. Sometimes I respond in-kind, leaving out the same words he would. We both attempt to learn a little bit of each others language; but we've got work to do. Communication just has to be understood.

I'(ve) seen it. -When speaking the 've can become almost completely silent. Southern accents are a good point but that's something completely different. IMO these dialects are generally just full of laxed grammar.

When would it be said? Once influenced enough by your environment you will begin to accommodate other cultures' dialects and accents. Vacation in Alabama for a month; y'all be talkin' funny when you git home.

Personally I'd use it as a passive aggressive insult if I thought they should know better. Speaking to someone who has ESL, I first use the correct grammar that I think they'd expect, like on T.V. -once misunderstood I revert to how I think they would say it. I make no attempt to adjust the grammar of non-ESL's who "don't care".

Answer 7

"I seen it", albeit grammatically incorrect, may be used rhetorically in story telling. Enallage is a rhetorical device defined as "The deliberate misuse of grammar to characterize a speaker".

As an example, a daft character could state: "Sheriff! I seen it with my own two eyes! I sware it be true!"

Or it's fine if you're just hanging with your friends and you like the sound of it, thereby characterizing yourself.

Answer 8

I have seen the Grand Canyon or I saw the Grand Canyon. I didn't seen the Grand Canyon. Often I hear otherwise "educated" people say things like, "I seen a movie last night."