is "trade" the new "substitute"?

[Dave Hause]

Both bring and take are in my idiolect with slightly different conotation:
"I'll bring it to her" implies I was already going to see her.  "I'll take
it to her" implies a special trip, not otherwise planned.
Dave Hause, dwhause at cablemo.net
Waynesville, MO

----- Original Message -----
From: "Randy Alexander" <strangeguitars at GMAIL.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2014 12:48 PM
Subject: Re: is "trade" the new "substitute"?


...
I had a similar (though even more shocking) experience five years ago
sitting on Rodney Huddleston's patio overlooking the sea.  I uttered
something like "I'll bring it to her", and Rodney interjected that he
couldn't say that -- that he would have to use "take".  We discussed this
for a bit, noting that his use might have been explicitly taught, whereas
mine wasn't (I didn't pay attention to grammar classes in grade school
(thank God)), and that context played a role in my usage.  Rodney didn't
look on my usage as illegitimate in any way, just that he and I have
slightly different dialects (it sounds funny to say that, given that his is
BrE and mine is AmE, but the similarities outweigh the differences by far),
so what I uttered is ungrammatical in his dialect but perfectly OK in mine.
 I also noted at the time that it was significant that up until that moment
I was even unaware that there was any "problem" with using that word in
that way.--
Randy Alexander
Manchu studies: http://www.sinoglot.com/manchu
Language in China (group blog): http://www.sinoglot.com/blog
Music: http://www.metafilter.com/activity/56219/posts/music/

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

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