Phrases you can't stand...

Feel live I've been brainwashed and don't know how I order things at places now

I think I say 'can I get' but I'm really no sure now :p

Doesn't seem that bad

^^ I'd say cheers as thanks too...like after the wsiter or whayever had confirmed the order or said no problem eytc...Central Scotland
 
BallistixOnZ490 said:
I use 'Could I get', is that any more incorrect than 'May I?'.
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I think it's just more american to get/take things.

Can I get? well I'm not stopping you but your not asking for service.
nope, it's "would YOU get me a coffee please"

"Can I have" which I use is basically the same but seems more polite imo.

but you still get the "ofcourse you can" like it's a question and borderline sarcasm as said in previous post.
 
BallistixOnZ490 said:
I use 'Could I get', is that any more incorrect than 'May I?'.
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"May I?" by itself is ambiguous without very clear context. "May I get <X>?" would be arguably less incorrect than "Can I get <X>?" but it would still be completely incorrect because 'get' is completely the wrong word in that context.

Using 'get' means that your are asking if you can fetch X yourself. You as the person doing the action of getting X. If that's what you mean, it's correct. If it's not what you mean, it's incorrect.

So, for example, if you go up to a counter and ask the person behind it "Can I get a latte?" then you're asking them if you can go behind the counter and use the coffee machine yourself. Which probably isn't what you meant, so it's probably incorrect. If you want someone else to get <X> and give it to you, the right word is 'have', not 'get'.

Could/may is something else. Strictly speaking, 'could/can' is about if you're able to do something and 'may' is asking for permission to do it. But that distinction isn't made so much nowadays. On the same basis, you could argue that "could I get?" is now right despite being obviously wrong simply because enough people are using it incorrectly. Like 'literally' now also meaning 'the complete opposite of literally' and 'unique' now also meaning 'definitely not unique but maybe not very common'. Neither make any sense and both are obviously completely wrong and go directly against the main point of language (communication), but from a descriptivist point of view if enough people are doing it wrong then it's right.
 
Not a film, but the documentary “Vietnam; The Lost Films.”
Almost at the end, they showed the POWs landing back at various airports around the U.S.
In Augusta GA, in March 1973, Colonel Ben Purcell was reunited with his wife and kids after nearly 6 years as a POW.
Home movies had already been shown of the couple and their kids, prior to Colonel Purcell being deployed to S.E. Asia, and of his wife Anne trying to keep the kids happy at Christmas times, so you kind of felt like you knew the family.
To see Anne’s face when her husband appeared at the top of the plane’s steps, then running to him and hugging him, you’d have had to be made of stone not to get misty eyed.
It reminded me of the time that my elder son returned from a tour of Northern Ireland, to his regiment in Bielefeld, Germany.
He called me to say that he was back, and although his time in Ulster was nothing like being a POW, after 20 to 30 seconds on the phone, I had to stop talking, as I was weeping like a baby.
I remember saying to him, “Want me to phone your mother?”, he said, “I called her first dad, sorry.”
As if I cared that he called my ex first, I just thanked God that he was back in one piece.
 
"I could care less".

...Americans, seriously, this doesn't mean what you think it means.

You use it to mean that your ability to care is at its lowest. But... that means you in fact could -not- care less.

What you're actually saying is that you could, in fact, care less than you currently do.

(One of many americanisms that bug me due to not making sense anymore)
 
this 'can I get' thing.... :p

it makes sense if you think of it as asking the waitress/waiter to get it for you? no??

can I get a cola (from you, the waitress...which you will get from the fridge, probably) ?

struggling to see any problem with it :p
 
Nirurin said:
"I could care less".

...Americans, seriously, this doesn't mean what you think it means.

You use it to mean that your ability to care is at its lowest. But... that means you in fact could -not- care less.

What you're actually saying is that you could, in fact, care less than you currently do.

(One of many americanisms that bug me due to not making sense anymore)
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It’s impossible to argue with your logic, but arguments have raged over this for years, it’s in such common use now, that you may as well ignore the rights and wrongs of it, safe in the knowledge that you’re right, and they’re wrong.
Depending to whom I’m speaking, I use both versions, every one that I say it to knows what I mean.

Angilion said:
"May I?" by itself is ambiguous without very clear context. "May I get <X>?" would be arguably less incorrect than "Can I get <X>?" but it would still be completely incorrect because 'get' is completely the wrong word in that context.

Using 'get' means that your are asking if you can fetch X yourself. You as the person doing the action of getting X. If that's what you mean, it's correct. If it's not what you mean, it's incorrect.

So, for example, if you go up to a counter and ask the person behind it "Can I get a latte?" then you're asking them if you can go behind the counter and use the coffee machine yourself. Which probably isn't what you meant, so it's probably incorrect. If you want someone else to get <X> and give it to you, the right word is 'have', not 'get'.

Could/may is something else. Strictly speaking, 'could/can' is about if you're able to do something and 'may' is asking for permission to do it. But that distinction isn't made so much nowadays. On the same basis, you could argue that "could I get?" is now right despite being obviously wrong simply because enough people are using it incorrectly. Like 'literally' now also meaning 'the complete opposite of literally' and 'unique' now also meaning 'definitely not unique but maybe not very common'. Neither make any sense and both are obviously completely wrong and go directly against the main point of language (communication), but from a descriptivist point of view if enough people are doing it wrong then it's right.
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Playing devil’s advocate here, in my usual cavalier manner, if the disturbing word is “get”, perhaps those that say get mean that after their verbal discourse about what they’d like to eat, as long as that appears on the table, then they will have “got” it ;)
 
builder22 said:
this 'can I get' thing.... :p

it makes sense if you think of it as asking the waitress/waiter to get it for you? no??

can I get a cola (from you, the waitress...which you will get from the fridge, probably) ?

struggling to see any problem with it :p
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I’m with you, but are you familiar with the expression, “You’re skating on thin ice there pal?”
 
Jean-F said:
It’s impossible to argue with your logic, but arguments have raged over this for years, it’s in such common use now, that you may as well ignore the rights and wrongs of it, safe in the knowledge that you’re right, and they’re wrong.
Depending to whom I’m speaking, I use both versions, every one that I say it to knows what I mean.
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I mean, when they use the phrase, I know what they -mean- easily enough. They're understandable. But just because a lot of people do something, doesn't mean it's not really stupid lol.
 
"its within our gift".....

Not quite sure why it annoys me, but it does. I guess its mostly because people use it to state the obvious about something.
 
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