Are the words “bring” and “take” interchangeable at this point? Has society decided this? If so, I’ll try to let it go; I’m not unreasonable. I just need to know. Is it now acceptable to say things like, “Thanks for the slice of birthday cake. I’m not hungry right now, but I’ll bring it home with me and eat it later.”
If somebody can fill me in on the status of those two words, I’d appreciate it. If they now mean exactly the same thing, I’ll make a mental adjustment and stop grinding my molars. I did it with imply and infer, so I know it can be done.
As far as I know you can bring it here, but you can’t bring it there. But language is dynamic, I’m told. Hey, just let me know. I’m cool with it. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
I think I might have a slight mental disorder…
A couple of weeks ago I started reading a so-called horror novel on my Kindle. It was a self-published book, with plenty of positive reviews at Amazon. I was in the mood for a Bentley Little novel, but didn’t have one. So I decided to give this one a shot. It seemed similarly twisted.
Yeah, I got about three chapters in, and had to abort the mission. The thing was LOADED with misspellings, and big-time grammar mistakes. I know I make mistakes, and occasionally screw up the spelling of things. But this book had the same words misspelled over and over. By the time “lightening” flashed in the sky for the third time, and the cops happened upon a “grizzly” murder scene, I was done.
What the hell, man? Did the author not let anyone read his manuscript before publication? Or did he just not give a shit? I’ve read plenty of quality self-published books, but some of them are a sloppy mess. And I don’t understand it. Why go to all the trouble of writing a novel — which isn’t easy — then releasing it without an edit? And what’s the story with all those five-star reviews?
Whatever. It might be a good story, but I’ll never know. Apparently the dude just uploaded his first draft, and said fukkit. And that’s what I said, too.
I’ve started working on my second book, again. I had to take a few weeks away from it, because it was making me loopy. I told my agent I’d have the first two sections to her in early January. Everything’s written, but it’s too long, and there are structural problems. I started working on it a month or so ago, and it felt like I was trying to solve the Rubik’s Cube. I was moving things around and taking stuff out, which caused a whole new set of problems… So, I had to step away.
I committed to early January, because it’s the only way it’ll get done. If I leave it as ASAP, I won’t work on it consistently. I know me, and have to adjust accordingly. I need a deadline, or I’ll still be tinkering with the thing in the fall of 2019. I worked on it this past Friday and Saturday, and it went well. So, I’ve got my sausage fingers crossed, and hope I’ve finally gotten over the hump on this bitch.
Oh, and my first book, Crossroads Road, will be free on Friday and Saturday, in the Kindle Store. If you haven’t read it yet, this will be your chance to grab it for nothing. Last time I made it free for two days, 1500 people downloaded it. We’ll see what happens this go’ round. I don’t know if Black Friday is a good day to do it, or completely foolish. I’ll let you know what happens.
And since we’re talking about indie stuff, here are a couple of independent releases I can recommend:
Color Me Obsessed is a new documentary about one of my favorite bands — the Replacements. I haven’t watched it yet, since it won’t be released until tomorrow. But the reviews are positive, and it’s a must-see at my house. I’ll probably have the boys watch it with me. Can’t hardly wait!
At eMusic I read a review of a new album by a band from Scotland, called PAWS. I didn’t know anything about them, and still don’t. But the description hooked me: punchdrunk noise-pop shout-alongs with disarming vulnerability. So, I downloaded it and have been returning to it, again and again. It’s a great album, for people who enjoy the lo-fi indie rock. You know, aging hipsters, and such?
And finally, I’d like to tell you about an endeavor undertaken by one of our own: Surf Reporter Tadpolegal. She lost her job about 18 months ago, and hasn’t been able to find a, um, replacement. So, she’s taken matters into her own hands, and started a business.
She (along with her mother) has started producing and selling salad dressings made from her father’s popular recipes. She only started this project in early October, and already has the dressings in seven grocery stores, and six specialty stores. They’re also available at Amazon, and you can see them here.
I love stories like this! Not the “lost my longtime job” part, but the part where folks don’t take it lying down. Tadpolegal still hasn’t found a job, but she’s taken the path of the entrepreneur, and is attempting to fix the problem herself. Please support her project. She’s been a friend of the Surf Report for a long time, and this is a great story. So, buy some indie dressings, dammit!
And I’m calling it a day, my friends.
See ya again tomorrow!
Now playing in the bunker
Treat yourself at Amazon: US and Canada
UNO again?
Oh, it has been BROUGHT, and TAKEN! [snappy finger gesture]
Instead of bring or take use “get”.
Good for you Tadpolegal! I’m gonna have somma that salad dressing took to me. I mean brung to me. Some of that salad dressing needs to get to me.
Me and Tadpolegal have a similar story, but mine involves meth manufacturing, and no Amazon links (yet). My boss said, “Today’s your friday!” I just hope I get to fire someone like that someday.
Hey Jason…let me know when you get that body parts harvesting thing going. Might be in the market for a used low milage liver in a couple years
Got an Asian liver for sale. Today only.
Jason…not in the market today and wasn’t really planning on getting an Asain import. Although…a German model might be a good fit down the line. Even a high mlie one that’s been running hard in the fast lane for years would be better than one of those low milage saki sucking rice drink burners.
Yeah. Mother fucking Asians. They’re plentiful. I do what I can when I can. You know.
I had a roommate in college who used the words “reach” & “hand” interchangeably. As in, “hand me that drink” became “reach me that drink.” To make matters worse, her thick accent made it sound like”retch”. As in, “retch me that drink.” Yikes!
Finish your book man!
I had a similar take/bring conversation a few years back, and it was resolved as follows:
Q: Do you take a dump, or bring a dump?
A: I leave a dump.
That badly-edited book seems like someone was too reliant on spell-check, since the misspellings were actual words, just not the right ones for the intended meanings.
I was reading an independent author the other day. Good story, but he greeted the Irish setter when he got there, and said goodbye to the black lab when he left. The guy he was visiting only had one dog. Duh. It’s the little things that drive me nuts.
The co-worker wasn’t necessarily incorrect, according to this explanation, because he or she was talking about doing something in the future:
http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/bring-versus-take.aspx
Exceptions: “Bring” and “Take” for Future Events
“… the simple rules fall apart when you consider an event in the future where nobody has arrived yet. Do you bring rum cake to the school bazaar or do you take rum cake to the school bazaar? It simply depends on where you want to place the emphasis of the sentence—which perspective you want to adopt. If you want to focus on the school and write from the perspective of the bazaar, you bring the cake to the bazaar. If you want to focus on your kitchen and write from the perspective of home, then you take the cake to the bazaar (which puts the focus on taking it away from your home). When you start writing about the future and have to choose between “bring” and “take,” imagine where you are in the scenario, and make your word choice based on that location.”
Then it would be “I will take” or “I will have brought”. You can’t “bring” something to a place you are not, or are not yet.
“I will have brought the cake home with me and eat it later”???? No, I don’t think so. If that were correct, then why wouldn’t it be “I will have taken” rather than “I will take”? It wouldn’t be. You’re getting into “Future Perfect Tense,” which doesn’t apply in this situation. The co-worker is simply saying she “will” (i.e., intends to) take/bring the cake home; she’s not describing her state-of-being in the future after she has already brought/taken the cake home.
I will take a bizarre cake to the rum party. By the time I get there, I will have taken my meds. I hope you will bring the grammar guide, because without it our imperfect conversation will just take the cake, there in the future, at the party, thus bringing us all down.
Did that bring home my intent? Not to take anything away from yours…
As for the original bad sentence… obviously, “I will TAKE it home with me and eat it later” is correct. I was replying to your examples.
But at this point, where’s that rum??
I will take. I would have taken.
Bring me out to the ballgame… yep, that seems fine.
Take me a beer… nah, babba nah. Unless of course I’m going to actuallly take a beer from your fridge for a road pop…
This is all too confusing, I feel like you gave us an english quiz instead of a QOD.
Yeah, some seem to be bringing this too seriously. I’m getting overwhelmed–it’s going to take me to my knees with angst.
Jeff,
I feel your pain with respect to the bring/take thing.
I heard a radio commercial the other day for some beverage. He said “it will slack your thirst”. Not slake. Slack.
Depending on the context, bring and take would be interchangeable.
But ‘imply’ and ‘infer’ NEVER ARE. Neither are ‘nauseous’ and ‘nauseated’. This latter one pisses me off far more than is reasonable (so fucking stop saying it!).
I hate to say but I think nauseated would actually be correct. To say it the other way would imply that you cause (others) to feel sick.
But WTF do I know? I’m from Texas and as long as we get it close, well, good enough.
Man Jeff! I need a Bentley Little book too. I haven’t read anything by him in 4 years. I read everything my Library has of his…
SLIGHT mental disorder?! *snort*
In college, I had a roommate who always stated she was going to “get” a shower. The other roommate called her on it every time – “What are you going to do with it when you get it?” I feel this is an extension of that same conversation and, just as in the past, I feel my eyes glaze over. Now, let’s talk about “flair” and “flare” – poor little sad, constantly-misused pair.
I read a Kindle book last month, and on every fukkin’ page someone smirked. Now, when I run across that word, I feel a snarl starting.
…get a nap, take a nap, catch a nap…then I’ll get a shower, take a shower, catch a shower…”Fine whatever. Get some rest and groom…then we’ll talk.
There are two “interchangables” that bug the hell out of me, but are obviously regional colloquialisms. They bug the hell out of me nonetheless. They are on/in and got/made. As in “I was sitting in the floor” vs sitting ON the floor. How do you sit in a floor? Did you smash a hole in it and sit inside the hole? I absolutely don’t get it, and it makes me want to throw things. The other, “I made an A on the test” vs GOT an A. How do you “make” a letter grade? You didn’t construct the grade, you received it. ARGH!
Hey Tadpolegal…add, “Now Available Without Perscription”,
to you marketing strategy. I have a HAZMAT endorsement on my CDL and I have a passport. If you ever think about expanding your territory to Canada and Mexico…I’m your guy to get (or is it take) (or is it bring) it there. My CB handle is, “Road Menace”. I’ll add ‘Dangerous’ to that.
I’m thinking way beyond Canada & Mexico! Worldwide if I have my way. You’ll be my first call!
Listen to me, tadpolebabe, I’ve been selling bat shit all over the world for years.
The advertising is idiotic now days, but you don’t have to understand it. “This is how you salad.” or some shit. Let it work. Good luck to you sugar momma. I’m doing the salad in a few days. I’ll be an avid supporter.
I’ll look forward to your call. I always have a bag packed. If anyone can sell French dressing to the French, or Russian dressing to the Russians or !000 Island dressing to the 1000 islandsers..(or dressings to cross dressers for that matter)…I get the feeling you’re the gal.
This is how you salad. Plus, she’s fucking cute.
Jeff,
I hope this isn’t the book you’re talking about, but if you’re interested in a great spooky story, read the reddit entries listed below, called penpal. One of the more twisted things I’ve read lately.
http://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/13gipk/a_penpal_movie_produced_by_an_academy_award/
My work requires that I attend 14 hours of continuing education each year. I just finished a two day grammer class, which was taught, oddly enough, by a young german lady.
It was not my first refresher course on the subect, and I’m always humbled by the experience. I remember that in high school I was pretty sure that Hell would involve diagramming sentences. Anyway, the young german lady teaching us english recommended we bookmark this website for future reference.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/1/5/
Be good.
My mother is an English teacher. You will never her me use improper grammar when speaking (don’t get me wrong, I can DESTROY the English language when I want to), the spelling and punctuation I’m not so good. Something that tears me up EVERY TIME is “where’s the (object) at?”. It’s behind the AT motherfucker. It IS somewhere. Not at somewhere. Also it’s and its.
Skippy out.
This drives me crazy, too. Same with “Can I come with?” I yell “UNNECESSARY PREPOSITION!” when I hear someone use one at the end of a sentence. I cannot stop myself.
Anyone that ask, “can I come with” gets a punch to the throat from me. Them’s the rules.
Tadpolegal —> CONGRATS!
Been hearing more and more how the “recession” is changing the business model. More entrepreneurs and less “working for the man”.
Good for you!
Congrats, Tadpolegal!
Several years ago I was talking on the phone with my dad regarding an upcoming family reunion. I offered to bring potato salad, and in return received a lecture on the difference between ‘bring’ and ‘take’. But I will agree with Swami that either can work in the same situation, depending on the shade of meaning you’re after. That is not the case with ‘infer’ and ‘imply’ – they do not, and cannot, mean the same thing.
I too just finished an editor-free book: things were fast as ‘lightening’ and characters agreed by saying “alright”, besides having inconsistent speech patterns from one sentence to the next. It was a fascinating and touching story, so I finished it, but it’s in dire need of a copy editor. “Playing With the Enemy” by Gary W. Moore, if anyone cares, and purchased through the WVSR – Amazon Axis of Retail. Which brings us back to salad dressing.
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On an only semi-related note… are there any other things you can cop besides an attitude, a buzz, and a squat?
A feel, of course.
.
Thanks chill – totally forgot about that one 🙂
A plea.
Thank you all for the encouraging words! I hope to have great success in the salad industry. Now that Twinkies are gone I might have a fighting chance.
I’ll do my bit for the Salad Cause, but I’m not 100% convinced of success. If, hypothetically, I were craving a Twinkie, would my logical second choice be salad?
Speaking of which – I know Freihofer’s is gone, but is Drake’s still around? Tastykake? How about that aging slut, Little Debbie?
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Tadpole and her salad sauce. Such a sweet family we have goin here. Bet your ass that I’ll be buyin that salad sauce. Get ready, baby, get ready to ship a fuckton to Alabamie. Here’s to you.