we went to the supermarket and then had a Chinese.I suppose we could put this with the count/mass differences I discussed last week. In AmE you could have Chinese for dinner or have Chinese food, but have a Chinese sounds a little like cannibalism.
This have a [insert cuisine here] construction is used for take-away (BrE; AmE = take-out) meals, rather than fine dining experiences. Other examples:
[on the great nightlife for yoof (BrE slang) in Doncaster:] ...all we can do is go into town on a Friday night. Or maybe go to the cinema and have a McDonalds. (bbc.co.uk)
When in Spain, do as the locals do...have an Indian. (Benidorm Spotlight)
When I have a Burger King I have a diet coke to offset the damage. (What Mountain Bike Forum)
In AmE, you could go to McDonalds or eat at McDonalds or have a Big Mac, but you couldn't have a McDonalds. Unless you were a franchisee, of course.
Better Half points out that in AmE you can get your coffee in a to-go cup, but in the UK it has to be a take-away cup, which might be made of paper or polystyrene (AmE=styrofoam).
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15 comments:
Oooh, I don't think I've ever been described as anonymous before. It's not so much for myself, but for my web developer husband :)
I've never thought that it could sound like cannabilism... I said it without a second thought, it's bizarre.
My husband would "go out for a meal" -- while, as an American, would "go out for dinner/lunch".
Also, he's just come up with another -- he would "go out FOR a meal or FOR dinner", while I would "go out TO dinner."
Janet
(lordcelery.blogspot.com)
Interesting site. I noticed a lot of differences in language when I was dating an Englishman. One of the things he used to say was "I was sat..." instead of "I was sitting..." Have you ever heard this? It doesn't sound like proper grammar to me.
Also, as Janet says, he would say "meal" more often than the average American. I don't really like that word, as it reminds me of "mealy".
BTW, thanks for explaining the rutabaga/swede connection. I finally know what I ate when I visited England. And all this time, I thought the English had discovered a new vegetable!
Yes, meal is more common here when talking about going out to eat--especially when it's going out to eat the main meal of the day. Perhaps this is just to avoid deciding whether to say dinner or supper or tea or whatever. I've been told it's "charming" that Americans say dinner for almost any evening meal (and some midday ones too), as it sounds rather formal to ears here.
I was sat sounds odd to Americans because it seems like a passive form, but only transitive verbs should be able to take the passive form and sit is generally intransitive. But it doesn't give quite the same feel as I was sitting, does it? The progressive form sitting indicates that an activity is going on--the sitting activity. I was sat sounds a lot more, well, passive--you'd say I was sat in front of the telly, but probably not I was sat at a lovely cafe talking to the most interesting people!. It's not a standard usage, but it is BrE.
There is some discussion of it at:
http://www.lydbury.co.uk/grammar/forum_posts.asp?TID=9820
I should say that the previous comment I left was written without any British input (Better Half is away), so my intuitions about when one would say I was sat could be completely wrong...
On the subject of meals, it used to crack me up every time my ex-bf used to say "I'm eating my tea."
Funny, but before reading the rest of the comments my immediate thought was "I was sat" sounds like it should end "by the waiter at a horrible/nice table".
Technically, BE + -ED is a passive construction. "Was sat" is passive. Yet it's being used to replace "BE + ING" progressive? That's definitely interesting.
I wouldn't say 'was sat' is replacing 'was sitting'--I'd say that it's doing a slightly different job.
Thank goodness for this post! If I hadn't read about 'having an Indian' before going to England last week for the first time, hearing it would have sent me into hysteria! :)
Here's another odd sounding usage in the 'I was sat' category. It comes from a MUD I play whose server is housed in Brighton. When the player arrives in a new location, the description sometimes reads "You are stood in a..." It was jarring the first time I encountered it, but that and 'are/was sat' seem normal now.
I am Mexican, whose spoken AmE all my life and just moved to England. The other day a Brit friend asked me if he could "pinch a fag" and let me say we were not in a gay club. Can you imagine my surprise when he expained that he was asking for a cigarrette? Any idea were that expression came from?
It's also common in AmE to say, "We had McDonald's/Subway/..."
Love the blog! Sorry to comment on an old post, but I'm working my way backwards...;)
I'm a native speaker of both BrE (well, IrE, but I spent a year doing a((post-)graduate course/degree in England)) and AmE, and I see "bused" as the preferred past of "to bus" in both. Google has it at about two to one, and the latter probably includes a few "kisses" anyway...
posted to the wrong post, sorry!
Whenever someone says "I was sat" [somewhere], I can hear my late mother say sternly "Sitting!". It is not correct usage in British English, but is becoming increasingly common.
Kate (Derby, UK)
This reminds me of the fantastic Goodness Gracious Me sketch "going out for an English".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpStoROu0XE
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