Assume v. Presume

What do you mean "nobody"? You are the final arbiter, are you? Methinks you have ideas above your station.
 
Who else is irritated by the younger generation going to a serving counter and saying "can I get..." instead of "may I have..."? I assume this has crept in with American TV and movies, because I don't think there is any local precedent.

Get is transitive, have is intransitive.

Can I get...?
Yes.
Well?
I thought you said you were going to get it for yourself.
 
Black Hole said:
Who else is irritated by the younger generation going to a serving counter and saying "can I get..." instead of "may I have..."? I assume this has crept in with American TV and movies, because I don't think there is any local precedent.

Get is transitive, have is intransitive.

Can I get...?
Yes.
Well?
I thought you said you were going to get it for yourself.
Click to expand...
I did hear a great response from a lady in the local sandwich shop to an American saying just that. Something along the lines of

"No, I'm sorry you need to be certified in food safety to come behind the counter, but I can get it for you if you like."
 
tumblr_lquyyjX2c81qbolbn.jpg
 
With fear and trepidation of being spaghettified in a black hole, is "May I have ..." any better than "Can I have ..."?

The answer to the former could be "I am not authorised to grant that request, please ask your better-half, guardian, senior-citizen carer ...".

When you approach a serving counter the assumption must be that the "server" - when they make eye-contact - is waiting for you to state what you want. Thus you should just list the required items with a polite "please" at the end of the list. [It does help, though, when the "server" opens the conversation with "What can I get you?".]

However, just listing the items seems a little forthright, so we all moderate it in some way with the above phrases. Even "Can you please get me ..." could be answered with a simple "Yes" with no action. Thankfully most people ignore grammatical errors in speech and so we all get fed in the end.

But don't get me started on "If I was ..." in place of "If I were ...". We all have our weaknesses. :)
 
Yes yes fair enough (as if this wasn't AvP), but "can I get" isn't a question of grammar - it means something totally different! I don't recognise "get" as being synonymous with "receive", to my mind it is more active - synonymous with "fetch".
 
Black Hole said:
Who else is irritated by the younger generation going to a serving counter and saying "can I get..." instead of "may I have..."? I assume this has crept in with American TV and movies, because I don't think there is any local precedent.
Click to expand...

A lot of our language is learned from TV these days, so I'd think that is almost certainly the way it's happened.
Does it irritate me? No, and to be honest I probably have used it myself on occasion. When you go into McD you are in a sense going into a bit of the US, so it makes sense to speak American there. (I have an american car and within the UK owners' club we usually refer to (eg) the hood and trunk, but to my wife I'd say the boot.)
 
"May I have ..." is a perfectly valid construct when shopping in the UK as you are making an offer to treat. The shop assistant is legally entitled to refuse the offer.
 
In descending order of politeness. "Please may I have...?", "May I have..?", "Can I have...?" and "Gimme..."
 
Seen on a shop on the way to the hospital this morning:

Your's

I realized after a while it is probably Mr Your's shop...:oops:

Image1.jpg​
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I see from the picture that misuse of everyday is still popular on that road!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Black Hole said:
Local news bulletin: "the heritage importance of this building cannot be under-estimated"
Click to expand...
Are you objecting to the failed hyperbole as people can always over-estimate the importance of things or to the mix up? My preference would be for them to have said "... should not be under-estimated".
 
I think that is the point BH is making, but I'm not sure that it was 'failed hyperbole', just another example of someone's grammar shortcomings leading to the publication a plain badly constructed sentence.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top