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Use of past tense when describing upcoming event

English Language & Usage Asked on August 13, 2021

Barbara Kelley, executive director of the Hearing Loss Association of
America, an advocacy organization, told me that she can’t wait for
more affordable and accessible hearing help. “I’m really excited for
the market to open up to see what we got and see how people are
reacting,” she said.

I have encountered the sentences above in a news article featuring a regulatory change that will allow Americans to buy hearing aids without a prescription.

I can’t wrap my head around why the past tense form got is used instead of are getting or will get in the last sentence.

The opening-up of the market is a future event. Indeed, that’s why the "be plus -ing" form is used in the following section see how people are reacting to describe an upcoming event.

Could you provide an explanation about the use of the past tense?

P.S.
The news article is not only about existing hearing aids becoming available for purchase over the counter, but also technology companies such as Apple and Bose aiming to enter the market with new types of product. So, the expression what we got appears, to me, to be referring to completely new products yet to be offered.

In order to give more context to the sentence in question, I will quote a longer version from the New York Times article.

Experts told me that when the F.D.A. moves ahead, it’s likely to lead
to new products and ideas to change hearing aids as we know them.

Imagine Apple, Bose or other consumer electronics companies making
hearing aids more stylish and relatively affordable — with people
having confidence that the devices had been vetted by the F.D.A. Bose
told me that it’s working on over-the-counter hearing aid technology.

Barbara Kelley, executive director of the Hearing Loss Association of
America, an advocacy organization, told me that she can’t wait for
more affordable and accessible hearing help. “I’m really excited for
the market to open up to see what we got and see how people are
reacting,” she said.

3 Answers

Business is a game of timing right? Shutters are down for customers right now but people have built/are busy building behind the shutter. Holding that thought..

Since, our dear speaker is excited and would like to assume that there are good things ready and waiting to be launched once the market opens, she goes on to use "got" instead of "getting" or "will get".

Another way of justifying her usage of "got" could be that she might be taking a holistic view of the entire system. A system of which we are all a part. But because we work in specialised silos, often the left hand doesn't know about what or how much right hand has progressed. Still, both hands belong to the same system. Hence, the usage of "what we got" instead of "what we are getting". Where use of we the latter will be considering the consumers as a disconnected entity, not part of the system.

Answered by Arpit Raj on August 13, 2021

I believe what she is talking about is the market of people's need, what people are looking for by way of helpful devices. She is not referring to the coming of those devices but the need for them. The need is what they already have or got.

It could be phrased better but as others have said she is speaking and not writing.

Answered by Elliot on August 13, 2021

It's not past tense at all, nor a mistake. "What we got" is an informal (very informal) idiom for "what we have."

She's saying, "I'm really excited for the market to open up to see what we have [on the market]."

You're not going to find it in real dictionaries, but here's an example from Urban Dictionary:

what we got next mate?
A simple Term uttered most commonly by a person in Secondary School who hasn't got a *** clue what the next class is.

Meaning, "What do we have next, mate?"

Answered by max norton on August 13, 2021

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