MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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WTF, why are people saying this when asking for stuff in shops?
What happened to 'can I have?'
It really winds me up along with 'My bad'
It's just not kids and yoofs, it's grown adults too.
I had to get that off my chest 😀
I couldn't agree more. Meaningless drivel.
[quote=twoniner ]'can I have?'
A you for real?
Surely it's "could I have"?
I'm ashamed to say I say it, but in my defence, I always prefix it with 'Please'
Peasants...'May I have...?' Tsssk 🙂
May I have, please.
Ie, may I have discount please?
What boblo said ^.
"Excuse me. May I have [an] ....... please?"
Its an Americanism isn't it. I say could I have please.
I was in a pub a few years ago, when I said, " could I have 3 pints of x", then turned to a mate to see what he wanted before I finished the order and then would have said please when the barmen interrupted and said," say please". I told him to, "get ****ed" and went to the pub over the road.
'Can you get me ...., please', that I can understand, otherwise I always say 'I'd like such and such, please' when asked 'what can I get you?', or else, 'can I have ....., please'.
Can I get ? no sir it`s not self service
uh-huh.
I prefer "please may i have..."
but each to their own.
while we're on it, can i have a rant-ette about politicians prefixing and answer to a question with "Look..." to try and dismiss the argument as meaningless.
Well weapon.
Or starting a sentence with 'so....' as if the writer is some form of bloody heavyweight thinker that has given the subject at hand lots of consideration... Mini grrrr from me 🙁
anagallis_arvensis - MemberIts an Americanism isn't it. I say could I have please.
I was in a pub a few years ago, when I said, " could I have 3 pints of x", then turned to a mate to see what he wanted before I finished the order and then would have said please when the barmen interrupted and said," say please". I told him to, "get ****" and went to the pub over the road.
Charming! You turn away from the guy whilst he's serving you, don't use any manners and you wonder why he asks you to say please?
I nearly caused WW3 a few months ago when I mercilessly took the piss out of my oh so trendy sister in law after we were in a restaurant with our other halves and she asked "could I get a vodka tonic"
It's could I [i]have[/i] a vodka [i]and [/i] tonic [i]please[/i]
Everybody knows what it means.
Language changes over time.
Get over it and stop being so miserably conservative and petty.
I agree with Woppit..
However, Mrs yunki uses a few americanisms including 'can I get' and each time, I am consumed with an overwhelming desire to open a vein and let all of my life blood flow out in a sticky viscous pool around my feet..
Hate it. It's like everyone thinks they're in an episode of Friends or that they somehow sound really cool doing it. "Please may I have..." or "Please could I have..." , surely?
I shut up about stuff like this now as when I criticise americanisms or american spelling someone inevitably points out that it's actually an example of "proper" 17th or 18th Century English that has been preserved on the other side of the pond.
I have no idea if it is the case in this instance though.
It's really simple. If they want to talk like a 90210 reject, they can **** off over there and do it first hand 🙂
Charming! You turn away from the guy whilst he's serving you, don't use any manners and you wonder why he asks you to say please?
indeed and no doubt he didn't want my money so we were both happy
As long as they say please and thank you who cares?
Can I get a some chillax tablets for the OP. He is totes un-amazeballs.
Can I get a reeewind?
Can I get...
[b]Whoop Whoop![/b]
..oh
oh dear..
CAN denotes ability, not desire,
COULD denotes the conditional, and strictly requires a test ie, IF this happens could I have?
MAY I have, is asking for consent
I WOULD like is also a conditional, but is the condition of your will, i.e. if something is on offer, then I would like this...
if it is an instruction then
Give me a.....
if it is a statement of desire
I want....
oh and if something is imperative
I SHALL have....
flippin' laziness, allowance of popular media to misuse the language.
language is living I agree, but change through lack of knowledge is upsetting
my rambling grumbles are now complete...
Oh, OH [b]OH[/b]
How are you?
I'm doing good
NO, SUPERMAN DOES GOOD. YOU ARE WELL.
Some people don't know these things. I use them as markers by which to quietly judge other people, ensuring I do not hire them as employees, marry them or give them the benefit of the doubt on anything that requires attention to detail.
On some days
Other days I really couldn't give a monkeys. It's almost like I pick and choose my 'how much I enjoy things and those around me' based on nothing uniform, influenced mostly by my mood and who was in my bed when I woke up.
It's like totally like whatever..
@scuzz Hire them? Hire them? Unless you are in Calibloodyfornia, we employ people here! That's all 🙂
Geez wan o they..............
Be grateful - in the US, it's common to hear "I'll take..."
What is language for? If someone walks into a pub and says "Can I get a pint of lager please?" will the barman understand and be able to comply with the request? Where's the problem?
Is this any different from people moaning that they can't use the word "gay" in its "proper" sense (meaning happy) anymore because it now means something else?
@scuzz Hire them? Hire them? Unless you are in Calibloodyfornia, we employ people here! That's all
😀
Come to the west coast, it's, erm,
no 🙁
What is language for? If someone walks into a pub and says "Can I get a pint of lager please?" will the barman understand and be able to comply with the request? Where's the problem?
They'd get the same message if you just pointed at the pump! 🙂
Take it to its logical conclusion... All individual languages are replaced by a mish mash of Americanised rubbish. Wherever you go, there's no differentiation, it's all the same. Do we really want that?
They'd get the same message if you just pointed at the pump!
Really? You think "Can I get..please?" is as rude as just pointing at the thing? I have to say, I disagree.
Take it to its logical conclusion... All individual languages are replaced by a mish mash of Americanised rubbish. Wherever you go, there's no differentiation, it's all the same. Do we really want that?
Would be quite handy for international travellers.
Really? You think "Can I get..please?" is as rude as just pointing at the thing? I have to say, I disagree.
Aha! So, choice / use of language can convey politeness. The importance of politeness depends on many factors, for example the situation - you don't look down your nose at someone who fails to apologise after they run into you to get out of the way of an explosion.
Surely, as well as politeness, language can convey other things? And, like politeness, these other things may or may not be important, depending on the situation?
Some people think proper grammar and use of language is important. Personally, I’m having far too much fun flirting with the waitress to worry about this sort of thing.
😀
I am so over this.
If someone corrected me in a shop, they'd pretty much be wearing was I was getting
Emsz is back! Hi Emsz - where ya bin?
Is OP Sean Lock?
Take it to its logical conclusion... All individual languages are replaced by a mish mash of Americanised rubbish. Wherever you go, there's no differentiation, it's all the same. Do we really want that?
Americans were complaining about the use of English words and idioms in [i]their[/i] language in the 18th Century. I often hear British slang being used in American TV programmes, w**ker being one, which makes me smile.
Hello emsz! (waves) 😀
Is OP Sean Lock?
I'd have a lot more cash in the bank!
It's just one of those things that really winds me up, I'm pretty chilled out with everything but this 😆
Aha! So, choice / use of language can convey politeness.
Er. yes? Not sure why "Aha" on that revelation, my original example had a please in it for this very reason. Not sure what you're getting at with the context thing, either - if the need to convey information in an emergency went something along the lines of someone saying to me "Can I get that fire extinguisher right now because my legs are on fire?" I probably wouldn't quibble about the lack of a "please" before handing it over....
Perhaps I've missed your point. Perhaps there isn't one. Or is it this (not sure how it links to your comments above it though)
Some people think proper grammar and use of language is important.
I reckon most people would agree, what with language being needed in order to communicate, and not doing it "properly" implies failure in this regard. However, since no one has disputed that "Can I get a pint of lager please?" fails to convey the information effectively (including the "please" bit which conveys respect etc.) I maintain that therefore it falls within the definition of "proper use of language", although it does display a shocking lack of discrimination or taste when it comes to choice of refreshment.
Anyone that says "time out" and does the hand sign that goes with it.
Ah- this has been covered off already...
what with language being needed in order to communicate
But it isn't! Point at a pump and see what you convey - it'll probably communicate far more than your desire for a pint. You'll be told where to shove your dire attitude, the barman will go home and tell their boyfriend they had ANOTHER self important wetwipe in the bar etc etc. All of this communicates far more than "May I have a pint please", which is instantly forgettable.
Saying that, go to another bar and they might throw you out for saying please or not wearing the right kind of hat.
It depends on so many factors, a bit like cycling two abreast on a single lane road. I like that you've drawn the line at 'anything without a please isn't cricket', that's good.
In my mind, it's [b]all[/b] proper use of language - it's just all the other stuff you may be telling other people through your choice of words that's important, and what this thread is about.
Plus I'm soft in the head.
although it does display a shocking lack of discrimination or taste when it comes to choice of refreshment.
Smiley face.
I prefer 'Give it to me now or I'll blow your f***ing brains out'. Works best when you enter the shop carrying an AR-7. I find you also get served first and there's no back chat either...
[url= http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2655/3972924986_86b4e12cae.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/3972924986/ ]Trying to fit in ;-)[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/brf/ ]brf[/url], on Flickr
But it isn't! Point at a pump and see what you convey - it'll probably communicate far more than your desire for a pint. You'll be told where to shove your dire attitude, the barman will go home and tell their boyfriend they had ANOTHER self important wetwipe in the bar etc etc. All of this communicates far more than "May I have a pint please", which is instantly forgettable.
I think we actually agree on this then - my point is that, by saying "Can I.. please?" I'm not merely conveying the information that I would like a tasteless, overchilled, industrially manufactured beverage, I'm also, by speaking and saying "please" conveying my respect to the barman and recognising his humanity. If I point at the pump, I'm merely treating him as a component in a lager dispensing system. So, yes, absolutely, the two convey different things.
However, regarding the difference between "Can I get.. please?" and "I would like... please?" I am struggling to find one...
' I want' in our house doesn't get.
It's either please may I have or could I have please.
The words please and/or thank you don't take much time, energy or effort, yet most people seem to have forgotten how to use them at the correct time and place.
'Can I get....?' Should be met with 'of course, help yourself'....
Standards, standards. Without them we are just apes 🙂
Can I get?
Only if you do the math.
Enough already!
'Can I get', implies you wish to obtain the beverage yourself. The barkeep has been pacifically employed to serve drinks to customers, therefore, 'May I have', is the correct term.
If you are in a self-serve restaurant, then by all means ask an attendant whether or not you may 'get' yourself a drink/food.
Or when Dear Leader say ... "Go hang" ... hang what? My shoes? 🙄
FFS! Why doesn't he just say "Go hang yourselves"? Or "Go kill yourselves if you don't like it"?
edlong - top post 🙂
time for some ice cold refreshment I feel.
The difference is small, and barely warrants notice in the grand scheme of things, but nevertheless its potential existence alone and any effect it may have is used primarily as a tool by some to feel superior to others 😀
Wooooo