Reg: What's that you have got Meggie?
Reg: Show us.
Meggie: No, she's mine! I got her for my birthday!
Reg: We just want to have a look.
Reg used the present perfect have got in the first sentence; instead, Meggie used the past tense got.
If Meggie used have got, would the sentence be correct?
It would be incorrect for Meggie to use have got instead of got, both semantically and grammatically. First, note that when Reg says “What's that you have got?”, he means “What do you have?”, or “What are you holding?”. On the other hand, when Meggie says got she means received. Second, Meggie could grammatically (but wordily) say “I have gotten her for my birthday”. In this context, “I have got her for my birthday” seems wrong to my American ear.
Regarding American English vs British, if I heard “What's that you have got?” I'd imagine the speaker to be using BE. From an AE speaker I would expect to hear any of “What have you got?”, “What've you got?”, “What do you have there?”, “What is it you've got there?”, “What's that you've got there?”, etc, ie you after have in some cases; have without got; a filler there; different contractions.
Have, and have got mean "to own, hold or possess something."
He had a new car and a boat.
Have you got a job yet?
Get means "to receive something; to obtain something."
The answer given by Meggie is perfectly fine, and I would understand it as "I obtained her for my birthday."
Another discussion from ELU https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5531/difference-between-i-have-got-and-i-have-gotten
In my opinion, its usage is too complicated for a word that can often be substituted with a better one. Also the spoken usage sounds strange or incorrect in some cases.
So rather than say
What's that you have got Meggie?
and
No, she's mine! I got her for my birthday!
why not say
What's that you have received Meggie?
and
No, she's mine! I received her for my birthday!
