Can I Get........
Discussion
This really bugs me and has for some time.
Standing in the queue to but a coffee this morning and no joke, every single person ahead of me said "can I get". Notice it all over the place these days.
I'm not old fashioned but surely it should be "Can I please have", Please can I have, or " may I please have".
If it were me behind the counter confronted with a "can I get" I'd say "of course and then serve the next customer. The inevitable "where's my coffee" would come along to which the response would be "oh, I thought you were getting it"
Standing in the queue to but a coffee this morning and no joke, every single person ahead of me said "can I get". Notice it all over the place these days.
I'm not old fashioned but surely it should be "Can I please have", Please can I have, or " may I please have".
If it were me behind the counter confronted with a "can I get" I'd say "of course and then serve the next customer. The inevitable "where's my coffee" would come along to which the response would be "oh, I thought you were getting it"
t constantly on PH, stick it in the 'Annoys me beyond reason' thread and leave it there FFS.
Think of it this way:
The Phrase you mention does not annoy you, you let it annoy you. It's your problem not theirs, life is too short to worry about stupid stuff like how someone may ask for their coffee. And then posting it on an internet forum.
Re "can i get" No - i don't like Americanisms creeping into our language either, but there is not much you can do about it.
The Phrase you mention does not annoy you, you let it annoy you. It's your problem not theirs, life is too short to worry about stupid stuff like how someone may ask for their coffee. And then posting it on an internet forum.
Re "can i get" No - i don't like Americanisms creeping into our language either, but there is not much you can do about it.
I saw this evolving in action, was on a course in London and all the Londonites said it, there was this spod from the back end of beyond and he clocked them saying it and started saying it, he sounded like Harry Enfield as Kevin the teenager doing his posh voice.
It evolves but doesnt mean it doesnt annoy, I think if you are over 40 then you will probably just grumble about it and never say it, unless you are pretending to be "down with the kids".
It does pale into insignificance compared to the whole "Brought" thing, "I brought a new car", that is just wrong, that isnt evolving, that is regressing, Bought = purchased and brought is the past tense of bring, to convey, to come with.
It evolves but doesnt mean it doesnt annoy, I think if you are over 40 then you will probably just grumble about it and never say it, unless you are pretending to be "down with the kids".
It does pale into insignificance compared to the whole "Brought" thing, "I brought a new car", that is just wrong, that isnt evolving, that is regressing, Bought = purchased and brought is the past tense of bring, to convey, to come with.
J4CKO said:
I saw this evolving in action, was on a course in London and all the Londonites said it, there was this spod from the back end of beyond and he clocked them saying it and started saying it, he sounded like Harry Enfield as Kevin the teenager doing his posh voice.
It evolves but doesnt mean it doesnt annoy, I think if you are over 40 then you will probably just grumble about it and never say it, unless you are pretending to be "down with the kids".
It does pale into insignificance compared to the whole "Brought" thing, "I brought a new car", that is just wrong, that isnt evolving, that is regressing, Bought = purchased and brought is the past tense of bring, to convey, to come with.
WTF is a SPOD?It evolves but doesnt mean it doesnt annoy, I think if you are over 40 then you will probably just grumble about it and never say it, unless you are pretending to be "down with the kids".
It does pale into insignificance compared to the whole "Brought" thing, "I brought a new car", that is just wrong, that isnt evolving, that is regressing, Bought = purchased and brought is the past tense of bring, to convey, to come with.
Is stupid people unable to understand (or simply uncaring of) what they're actually saying really a language evolving though? Or is it just the hard of thinking trotting out what they heard on telly without actually thinking about what it is they are saying.
Bit like lose and loose, plenty of stupid people write 'heads you win, tails you loose' but that's not language evolvement, it's just stupid people getting it wrong.
Bit like lose and loose, plenty of stupid people write 'heads you win, tails you loose' but that's not language evolvement, it's just stupid people getting it wrong.
I hate it so much I taught myself to stop saying it years ago.
That said, go back 30 years to when "the <requested item> is off" was such a common response from waiting staff in pubs and restaurants, there may have been a certain validity in asking "can I get?", as it asked the real question.
That said, go back 30 years to when "the <requested item> is off" was such a common response from waiting staff in pubs and restaurants, there may have been a certain validity in asking "can I get?", as it asked the real question.
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