_Take_ v. _bring_

[Laurence Horn]

On Feb 25, 2012, at 8:33 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> I've been noticing this for a number of years - but mainly in TV
> commercials.
>
> If it isn't entirely unconscious (and not much in TV commercials is) it may
> be because "bring" suggests abundance and coming closer to a destination -
> in ads always a destination of fun, adventure, luxury, and hotties - while
> "take" suggests dearth and
> separation.
>
> If you think that's insane, I assure you that contemporary  literary
> criticism reads far, far more into words like "bring" and "take" than I
> could even begin to go into here.  Their powerful sexuality, for example.
>
> JL

Well, "bring" is "cause to come", after all.

LH
>
> On Sat, Feb 25, 2012 at 12:16 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      _Take_ v. _bring_
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> _Bring_ your photos, docs, and videos anywhere!
>>
>>
>> I'd use _take_ in this environment. But, WTF, I catch their drift and
>> so will everybody else. The distinction is otiose.
>>
>> --
>> -Wilson
>> -----
>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
>> to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> -Mark Twain
>>
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>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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