The Lemon Fool

Hi Pedants, looking for some help on the following...

I've always thought that if you're asking someone to transport an object from one place to another you should use the word 'take', as in
'Take the shoes to London'
but if you (i.e. the person asking) is in the place in question (London in this instance) you should use 'bring', i.e.
'Bring the shoes to London'

But I notice a lot of times now people use bring when they are not in the destination place e.g.
'Bring all your old shoes to your local recycling centre'


My question is, have I imagined this bring/take rule or is the observed non-adherence just another example of sloppy/common usage?

TIA
MayLix

I reckon... a bit of both.
It creates (maybe) the friendly impression that the invitation comes direct from someone in your friendly local recycling centre itself - come along and join us for a bit of a chinwag. Whereas 'take' maybe sounds a bit more curt, an instruction from someone sitting in the council offices, and why should we pay any attention to them?

I've always believed there to be a directional component:
- I take things where I'm going
- people bring things to where I am

Depending on what I want to convey (or how I want the listener to perceive our relative positions) I could use either

But there's also a kind of "they was doing it wrong" bristle, that could be intentional, should one use either counter to the expected case

-sd

Maylix wrote:Hi Pedants, looking for some help on the following...

I've always thought that if you're asking someone to transport an object from one place to another you should use the word 'take', as in
'Take the shoes to London'
but if you (i.e. the person asking) is in the place in question (London in this instance) you should use 'bring', i.e.
'Bring the shoes to London'

But I notice a lot of times now people use bring when they are not in the destination place e.g.
'Bring all your old shoes to your local recycling centre'


My question is, have I imagined this bring/take rule or is the observed non-adherence just another example of sloppy/common usage?

TIA
MayLix

I see it and have always taught it as you presented it.

Bring something to me (here), come to me (here)--- or to London, if I live in London.

Take to another place (not here). Go to another place (not here).

Cambridge dictionary is fine with bringing to a place that's not where the speaker is :
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictio ... lish/bring

to take or carry someone or something to a place or a person, OR in the direction of the person speaking

If it wasn't coming towards me, I would tend to use it more for a "collection" or "coming together" at another location (as here) or a future event - "bring a bottle to the party work event on Friday" is a topical.

I also suspect there may be regional variations to how "bring" is used.

Scene: I am going to a friend's place on Sunday for lunch. She tells me 'Bring your dogs if you like'. That seems to me to be quite personal whereas I doubt that she would say 'Take your dogs if you like' because that would imply that I am visiting a third party and she was simply giving me advice.

Likewise a party invitation: 'Bring a bottle'. I might say to my partner 'Take a bottle' or 'Bring a bottle' I doubt that there is a 'correct' usage but I would be interested to know.

Dod

Hmmm - and what's correct (if there is such a thing) when someone is asking you to bring/take something to a place where you are both going to meet.

"I'll see you at Ted's at about 8.00pm - bring/take a bottle".

and is it different if:

"I'll be back home by 8.00pm - so come anytime after that and bring/take a bottle"

To me , it 'take' when it's moving something to a 'third party' location and 'bring' when you, or your organisation, are the destination
So an email/poster from local recycling centre should say 'bring your recycling to us', whereas I may say to someone 'you should take that bag to the local recycling centre (no, not the missus, the clothes etc etc)

Hi All.

Hallucigenia's link has a pertinent further link

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/bring-take-and-fetch

It always grates when I hear (as alas I often do) "bring your plate to the kitchen" - and in this case, it is a regional affectation.

The use of "I was stood ..." grates similarly. "I stood is ..." is fine, "I was standing ..." is fine, but not "I was stood ..." - which I have seen some otherwise well educated people use.

Regards, Newroad

Newroad wrote:Hi All.


It always grates when I hear (as alas I often do) "bring your plate to the kitchen" - and in this case, it is a regional affectation.


Regards, Newroad

That's an interesting one. I take it neither the speaker nor listener are currently in the kitchen. It does not grate on my Scottish ears. I'd take it be an instruction to take yourself to the kitchen and bring your plate with you.....

It strikes me that it might also be politesse - "bring your plate" seems less imperative than "take your plate" .

This has long rankled me since the 80s when I watched an episode of "Going For Gold " in which Henry Kelly said to an eliminated Polish contestant , " When you go back to Poland bring our regards with you".

What is so difficult about learning that you "take" from here to there , but "bring " from there to here ?

Another idiots habit is using "went" instead of "gone" as in " I called for my friend but he had went on earlier". Another example of Americanisms being adopted and taught.

I dare say that Blue Peter's "Bring and Buy" sales have probably influenced language as well!

I think that personally I would generally say that you bring something to somewhere, and take something from somewhere. I suppose it depends which location you want to emphasise?

But there's probably room for some flexibility, possibly depending on how the speaker/writer is visualizing the perspective of the scenario at the time:

A workmate might say "Could you take this screwdriver to Bob?" ("bring … to" doesn't sound right here, probably because, although the to-location is actually said, it is perhaps more the from-location (where "this screwdriver" currently is) that is equally or more important (even although it is only implied, not said), possibly because if you fail to "take" that screwdriver first you cannot then "bring it"?


If inviting someone to a party you'd probably say "…and bring a bottle with you" (to me), but if you were asking a friend with a well-stocked wine cellar and known for their generosity, you might perhaps say "…and take a bottle with you, of course?", with the implication that you are expecting them to take a bottle from their wine cellar rather than just bringing something that they popped into the shop to buy on the way?


(Argh, after now thinking about this too hard, I have confused myself, but I'll post it anyway. I think the answer definitely has an element of "it depends", and I think I'll bring myself a drink now!)

And I'm now wondering if Jason Orange and Robbie Williams should have called their band "Bring That"...

Another interpretation: since London is the centre of the known world, for railway lines and roads at least, one brings to London and takes (away) from London (to unwashed primitive habitations north of Watford).

marronier wrote:What is so difficult about learning that you "take" from here to there , but "bring " from there to here ?

"I'll meet you at the swimming baths. You'll need to bring a towel". Now you're bringing something from 'there' to 'there2', however by the time you get to 'there2' then it will be 'here'.

Perhaps "don't forget your towel" would be better

My impression is its the American influence, again. On TV programmes I notice they say bring, when we would say take.

'Bring' is (etymologically OE, hence from Old High German) a nice peaceful 'convey, carry with you' word.
'Take' on other hand is from the Old Norse for what Vikings did: 'get hold of, capture by force'.

Or - pedantic alternative: 'Bring' is (etymologically OE, hence from Old Low German - Plattdeutsch).
But probably both.

To introduce even more pedantic etymology ,it could be argued that "take" is derived from the Greek "taxi" i.e .travel (with; by ) , where taximeter is measure of distance travelled.

As mentioned "bring " comes from the German "bringen".

Study etymology and one begins to wonder how many English words are English and not borrowed then misused , mispronounced and never returned.