Bring vs. Take

[George Thompson]

So the consensus here is that mother-in-law was quite right to despair of what her daughter had brought home -- or should it be taken home?

GAT

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

----- Original Message -----
From: "David A. Daniel" <dad at POKERWIZ.COM>
Date: Friday, February 11, 2011 3:16 pm
Subject: Re: Bring vs. Take
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU

> At 5:48 PM -0200 2/11/11, David A. Daniel wrote:
> >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
>
> >How about us eclectic folks who can say "I gotta bring this here
> >Chevy to the shop"?  (If you have a Mercedes, you can't use "here";
> >register clash.)
>
> LH
>
> Ya got me there, pard. Thanks for taking it to my attention.
> 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.
> >
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> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
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>
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>
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