"I have done it" vs "I've been had done it"

[warpus]

Okay so that explains "I been had done". I can see that being slang that people use.

but what about "I have been had done" ? Cause the first one would actually make a bit of sense, but the addition of the "have" makes things kinda awkward.

 

[Farm Boy]

"No, you didn't."

"I have been had done!"

??

 

[Gori the Grey]

OK. With the context, and the indications of vocal emphasis, that Sommer provides, I can now imagine the phrase “I been had done it” being spoken—the kind of circumstances in which it would be meaningful. In effect, both helping verbs are being used for emphasis. That is part of the function that helping verbs (with vocal emphasis) have in conventional grammar, as well. “Push!” “I am pushing!” “Make sure you eat before we leave!” “I have eaten!”

So this expression just compounds two slang expressions, each used for emphasis, in order to get a feeling of double emphasis. It’s pretty familiar slang to omit “have” from past progressive constructions: instead of “I have been pushing!” to say “I been pushing! Notice that when one drops the “have,” the vocal emphasis falls on “been” instead.

As Sommer points out, there are two levels of past-ness available in English. They’re called the perfect (completed action) and the pluperfect (even more/earlier completed action). We use the pluperfect when we need to say that something was done even before something else that is also completed as an action: “I ate.” “I napped.” now we want to give the order of those events “I had eaten before I napped.” So the pluperfect, using “had,” is for actions that have been finished especially long ago. It’s ordinarily actually not a matter of absolute distance of time in the past, but distance relative to some other action. This idiom is converting "had done" into a measure of absolute temporal distance: done a really long time ago. In conventional English, one can make this a point of emphasis by stressing the helping verb: “I had eaten.”

The expression in question, then, just combines these two modes of emphasis to convey that the action in question really did happen a long time ago. In proper English, we would just use an adverb, like “already,” to give that emphasis: “Yes, I have already eaten.”

To my ears “been had done” is inelegant because it relies for its effect on piling auxillary verbs one on another. Helping verbs are among the least vibrant elements of the language; prepositions are downright electric by comparison.

I’ll (try to) demonstrate that I’m not just being an elitist snob in having this preference, by giving a case of a slang expression, using a helping verb, that I think adds meaning to the proper expression that it replaces, and that is “done.” Take a like like Eminem’s “The underground done spunned around; done a three-sixty and now these cats dis me.” Now, even setting aside the intricate internal rhyme, I think “done” here expresses more than just its proper equivalent: “The underground has spun around.” I think “done” adds a sense of “and isn’t that to be expected” or “and isn’t that just how things go” that is not present in “The underground has spun around.” To convey that same sense of wearied resignation to the inevitable, the proper speaker would have to add words: “The underground, as I might have expected, has spun around on me.”

Now you may say that Eminem is an acknowledged master wordsmith. Certainly. But I think “done” carries this force even in more ordinary cases: “He done went and got married (just the way these things always go, isn’t it?)”

So I can acknowledge when demotic expression adds vibrancy to the languge. “I been had done it” is just not one of those cases, to my ear.

 

[Gori the Grey]

I have done.

 

[Farm Boy]

I done read it. I done dun get it. Maybe?

 

[Narz]

Using extra unnecessary words is always bad form even if it exists as slang somewhere.

 

[Sommerswerd]

Using extra unnecessary words is always bad form even if it exists as slang somewhere.

I agree... So let me help you then

Using extra unnecessary words is always bad form even if it exists as slang somewhere.

 

[Narz]

 

[Hygro]

Using extra unnecessary words is always bad form even if it exists as slang somewhere.

Which brings us to the original point of the thread: do you recognize a semantic difference between "I have [verb] it" and "I been had [verb] it"?

 

[Sommerswerd]

Which brings us to the original point of the thread: do you recognize a semantic difference between "I have [verb] it" and "I been had [verb] it"?

Yep. If you say "I have kissed her" or "I've kissed her" and I reply "Pffft, I've beeeen had kissed her!" then I am specifically saying that "I kissed her way before you did... so there "

Does that even respond to your question? I think I might be starting to confuse myself.

 

[Narz]

Which brings us to the original point of the thread: do you recognize a semantic difference between "I have [verb] it" and "I been had [verb] it"?

The difference is the 2nd has more words for dramatic effect & lets the casual observer know with 99% accuracy that you will never rise above the poverty line.

 

[warpus]

Are we changing "I have been had done it" to "I been had done it"? Cause those seem wildly different to me, even if you go with the "I've" version.

 

[Lohrenswald]

Like this:

1. I have done (the dishes). - I finished washing the dishes.[emoji106]

2. I BEEN HAD done (the dishes). - I finished washing the dishes a long time ago, so long ago in fact, that it is a little bit silly for you to be asking me about it, because you should have noticed by now that they were done on your own without asking me. I don't think "have" or I've would be used. Instead it would just be "I been had" with emphasis placed on been... "I Beeeennnn had done"

A visual - A person saying "been had done" might preface the statement by sucking their teeth to make the dismissive "tsk" sound along with waving their hand downward in a dismissive gesture.

Hopefully that helps

The "been" is completely unnecessary.

 

[BenitoChavez]

Upon realizing his mistake, a person asked "Did you send your account information to that Nigerian Prince? " might answer, informally, "I've been had, done it."

This is the only way I can make sense of the 2nd phrase.

"I've been had" - I made a mistake or was tricked.

"done it" -"I have" was left off as it is sometimes done when speaking.

So the full meaning of "I've been had done it" could be "I have done it but I was tricked into doing it"

 

[warpus]

Yeah, the main problem here is that "I've been had" is already a well recognized and widely used phrase. So most people will focus on that and get confused by the other words added on at the end. "I've been had, dang it!" makes a lot more sense to me, for example.

It's also why I asked for a youtube video of someone saying this - so we could hear the enunciation and where the emphasis fell exactly. As Jesus said in Midichlorians 5:57: "Let him who have been done it, do it."

 

[Hygro]

Are we changing "I have been had done it" to "I been had done it"? Cause those seem wildly different to me, even if you go with the "I've" version.

yes, the "'ve" part was an error, but was definitely never meant to extrapolate to a stand alone "have". That said, you do sometimes hear the "'ve", sometimes rolled into the b in been ("Ayhb been...")