Comments on: 'Can I get …' http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/can-i-get Just another WordPress weblog Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:58:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Roy http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/can-i-get/comment-page-1#comment-583 Roy Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:36:27 +0000 http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/?p=1293#comment-583 My Grade 8 teacher (in Canada, so it was Grade 8, not Eighth grade), said always that "get" was the ugliest word in the English language. Since then, and it is more than sixty years, I have been trying to avoid the word get, and all its forms of got, gotten. I find that get is the word of choice in so many situations. I don't get it! My Grade 8 teacher (in Canada, so it was Grade 8, not Eighth grade), said always that “get” was the ugliest word in the English language.

Since then, and it is more than sixty years, I have been trying to avoid the word get, and all its forms of got, gotten. I find that get is the word of choice in so many situations. I don’t get it!

]]> By: Mal http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/can-i-get/comment-page-1#comment-582 Mal Sat, 25 Jul 2009 10:42:35 +0000 http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/?p=1293#comment-582 The use of "Can I get..." goes back much further than episodes of 'Friends', and those of us old enough to remember the 'Sixties will know Marvin Gaye's (Holland -Dozier-Holland) song " Can I get a witness" , also covered by the Rolling Stones. When the meaning of a simple phrase has to be explained in this way surely it has failed in its primary purpose of communicating, in this case a request! I'm no purist but to me it's just another example of lazy English, just like " Let's go eat." The use of “Can I get…” goes back much further than episodes of ‘Friends’, and those of us old enough to remember the ‘Sixties will know Marvin Gaye’s (Holland -Dozier-Holland) song ” Can I get a witness” , also covered by the Rolling Stones. When the meaning of a simple phrase has to be explained in this way surely it has failed in its primary purpose of communicating, in this case a request!
I’m no purist but to me it’s just another example of lazy English, just like ” Let’s go eat.”

]]> By: Marilyn http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/can-i-get/comment-page-1#comment-581 Marilyn Fri, 24 Jul 2009 06:40:33 +0000 http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/?p=1293#comment-581 Actually, the American version does involve "going and getting", but they want the other person to do the fetching, or are suggesting that they would do it themselves if it were allowed (which it obviously isn't in a restaurant). "Can I get" is more polite than "Go and get me a coffee". Actually, the American version does involve “going and getting”, but they want the other person to do the fetching, or are suggesting that they would do it themselves if it were allowed (which it obviously isn’t in a restaurant). “Can I get” is more polite than “Go and get me a coffee”.

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