Bring vs. Take

[David A. Daniel]

This is typical of New York and extended environs. Ex: other day, during an
episode of TAAHM, my daughter said "I wonder where Chuck Lorre is from". I
told her, "Gotta be New York because he always has Charlie and the others
saying bring instead of take." Sure enough, he's from Long Guyland. Anyway,
the anecdotals are legion and I've never seen it fail. Family and friends in
places like Chicago, Houston, San Francisco and L.A. don't get it wrong (I
listen for this sort of thing), even those who tend to make other mistakes
of the "should of went" sort. Hint to George: If you can't say the word
"here" in the sentence, as in "bring it here" you should probably be using
"take". For example, Charlie, at home, and being from California, would
never say to Allan, "I have to bring my Mercedes to the shop." (But that is
exactly what a New Yorker would say.) However, the mechanic on the phone at
the shop would say, "You have to bring your Mercedes [here] to the shop,"
which we know is correct because "here" fits into the sentence.
DAD

-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
George Thompson
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2011 3:11 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Bring vs. Take



Wilson:
"(One my wife's pet peeves is the loss of the distinction between
_bring_ and _take_.)"

Is this a Pennsylvania thing?
One of the many things my defunct mother-in-law found objectionable in me
was my inability to use" bring" and "take" properly.  Many a time did she
explain to me that one would always bring something to a place and then take
it back -- unless one took something to a place and then brought it back --
it was one or the other -- I could never keep it straight -- so I would
alternate between the two, figuring that that would make her happy half of
the time.
Not how she worked, however -- I succeeded in making her unhappy half of the
time.

She was from western Pennsylvania, a prescriptivist high-school English
teacher.

Fondly remembered, of course.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ.
Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org