First off. Have you thought of switching to decaf as you seem slightly on edge. A and b, maybe a bit harsh (it's probably prevelant in coffee shops as asking for a skinny latte/cappucino elsewhere (butchers, shoe shop) may cause confusion). C is perfectly reasonable and even laudable. I'm sure we all feel your pain.

"can I get a skinny latte/regular cappucino" (Why is this most prevalent in coffee shops)?

Possibly because they tend to sell coffee in coffee shops..? ;)

Maybe it reflects what the staff are trained to ask you in the first place. If they say, 'What can I get you?' you're likely to use the same verb back.

definitely consider C to be reasonable!!!

all the coffee shops and sandwich places are full of students asking if they can *get* things. I think the American students started it and now they all seem to do it. Another example of the language changing and evolving I guess.

in disguise?

Fond farewell greeting made to someone on the telephone, whom you have neither seen recently, nor will soon, or, most likely, will even bother to hear later.
Beats catching later, I suppose.
Theres an R in Meldew.

C is reasonable and B could be depending on the level of technical cold weather wear they have on and how out doorsey they are in reality.

I don't mind the americanisms in US style coffee shops - I normally avoid as the coffee quality is not great. In fact, they seem to correlate waiting time with higher quality which annoys me loads.

What gets me most at the moment as the proud father to twins, is how familiar people think they can be just because we have twins. They point, discuss them with each other whilst ignoring us completely and some even walk up and start lifting blankets to get a better look.

Did you know that it takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile? So turn that frown upside down!

If that makes you want to punch me, that's ok, I want to punch myself after posting this.

If it's raining. No problem with folks keeping dry. If it's not raining, and there ain't a cloud in the sky, then death's too good for 'em.

to get me a tall, skinny latte. Anyone want one?

I'm with Paul on this. "get" in this context is dismal and should be corrected. "I'd like a..." is fine, "May I have a...." possibly a bit formal though I am hammering it into Twang Jr at the moment, ""Any chance of a ...." probably a bit flip, "A.....please" certainly OK if delivered pleasantly.

Twang Jr has also acquired "done" as in "I'm done" when he means "I've finished" from somewhere too. Needless to say there is zero tolerance on this too.

B & C - agree but it doesn't pain me in the same way.

There. I'm done. I'm off to get a coffee.

I now have a skinny latte on my desk. I used the phrase "Can I have a tall, skinny latte please". This was clearly understood.

Everyone else ordering while I was there said "Can I get..."

This proves:

1. That people that serve coffee don't have to be talked to as if we are in an episode of Friends.

2. No one in the queue has read the Word blog today.

...all said Good.
Savages!

Prat-o-meter was one of those american style high st eateries where it's all fancy assed sandwiches and smoothes with at least 4 different flavours. It's not, is it...

In every food or drink queue I'm in, I hear this - except in pubs. It would seem everyone under 30 now says this.

It's annoyingly American. And it must stop.

… I read a comment somewhere by someone who'd been behind a bloke in a sandwich bar who'd uttered the following:
“Can I get a J P with cheese and beans?”

A 'J P' is, for the uninitiated, a jacket potato.

have a crap french style academy which tells us all which words we can and can't use including all the ones which we use to use that went over the pond and came back but we've moved on and then slag off because they are "american" but aren't just old english usage. let's not say "cool", or "jazz" or "kangeroo" let's all speak like James 1st.
Griping about grammar/usage is the most self defeating activity going.
and as for slagging of what people wear didn't Jesus say something about "ye who hath not sin, ye shall can cast the first stone"

This bloke in the long coat not member of the fields Nephillim by any chance?

Possibly an actress, informed a blonde woman on GMTV the other day that she was "Loving being in a good place right now". Had I not been an early adopter and as such paid too much for my LCD TV, I would have put it through with a well aimed slipper.

While in a Coffee shop in L,A a few years back a friend of mine was perplexed by the vocabulary being used.When he was asked if he wanted his Coffee "Tall,skinny etc" He replied "Mate i'm short,fat,bald and thirsty if that's any help".

What about "Taking a shower" ?,Where exactly are they taking it ?

if you have been asked to transport an item from your house to someone else's house - a piece of furniture, a pig, or a signed picture of Violet Carson perhaps - do you reply: (i) "Yes, I'll bring it with me" or (ii) "Yes, I'll take it with me"? I only ask because I was recently ridiculed by an Englishman for using 'bring', whereas in Ireland this is the usual construction. It's always useful to obtain guidance from experts in these matters.

as soon as I unpack my poke. (The occasional table and etchings will have to be brung later)

better in M&S - and they dont serve skinny Lattes. Highly recommend their Rocky road to go with the Coffee. Anmyway we need to be supportive of our British Institutions - Times is hard - Sir Rose's company just report £1 billon pounds in profit and their shares take a dive!! Their checkout girls are revolting - one in Tamworth gave me a 10p bag without charging, all because her bonus was cut from £500 to £100. The worm is turning.

Why oh why oh why do the youth of today insist on peppeing their sentences with "like"? This seems to be very much a transatlantic thing and makes steam come out of my ears.

And in a ceetain sort of restaurant being addressed as "you guys" - grrrr

And I'm like "Oh. My. God!"
There's like literally trillions and trillions of these sort of hole-type things in Blackburn, Lancashire.
But though the hole-type things were only like, you know, mega-tiny,
They've all got tickets for the O2.
I'm loving the idea of floating your boat.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.
W. A. I. T.
That's like poetry, right?
Which part of "can't be arsed" don't you understand?

Valparaiso clearly one of the Beat poets. My money is on Gregory Corso. First use of arse out of san Francisco bay area happening sense. Poetry wise, that is.

"Love Will Keep Us Together. . . Not"

Yes, the weather's OK for a change but my office is still full of idiots wanting things to "be actioned going forward". The only thing they seem to be capable of "actioning going forward" is the splitting of a thousand infinitives and the extinction of the bloody comma. I'm off to get me a gun....

Thank God I am not alone in hating these various recent changes in usage. However, I feel I am about to raise this thread to new levels of pedantry by offering an English teacher's view.

pv is right when he points out that in this case `can', when used with the verb `to get' is usually taken as a request for permission for someone to do something rather than an enquiry about the possibility of someone else doing it for them.

We all know those idiots who, when asked if they can pass you something, reply "Yes". Then they don't pass you it because you didn't ask them if they will pass you it now please....pretty please... with a cherry on top.

The normal question "Can I have?", or the slightly more polite form "Could I have" when used in a transaction situation are the commonly accepted versions of "Give me". Clearly this isn't an enquiry about the possibility of the transaction. Nor is it a request for permission to carry out the transaction. It is an order, placed in that wonderful English way. In other languages this can be much more direct - for example "I'll have", or "I'll take", or "give me", or "I want" or even just the .

I could suggest that as young people a) don't actually learn grammar anymore, and b) each generation tries to change it anyway, this is actually a modern attempt to be more polite rather than less, as `Can I get a...' could be construed as more polite than `Can you get me a...'

I could suggest that....but I also fear it came from American TV - I don't like it either!

As for the bring/take thing...look here: http://www.getitwriteonline.com/archive/050701.htm

Just to raise the bar a little....has anyone experienced "could of"? As in: I could of done something but I didn't.

I've heard and seen "could of" many times, especially in on-line forums where it is generally used by the younger posters. I blame falling educational standards.

Even my wife (aged 43) asks if she can "get" a coffee when in the coffee shop. It's like all I can do not to correct her. The coffee's hot and it just isn't worth the risk.

May I asks whether, can I asks if possible, could I asks if the potential is there.
Source: Inverness, "where they speak the best english in the land".
So there.
Jimmy.

It's a meme. It started about a year ago and now it is everywhere. People think it is cool to talk this way. Much like people who drive with their window down, holding on to the car roof. There is NO REASON to do this but it started about 30 years ago and will never stop. Basically sub-species of the cool meme. Saying 'off of' is another one.

Coming out of Work i bumped into two American girls and one said to the other "That So Did Not Not happen". Anyone got the faintest idea what she meant ?

Saying 'can I get' should probably be responded to with 'no, it's OK, I'll get it. That's the point. It's a shop. You ask, we get. You don't have to get anything.'

Stupid gets. It drives me mad.

Chaucer:

Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour
Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
(That slepen al the nyght with open eye)
So priketh hem Nature in hir corages
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages

Shakespeare:

Stay you imperfect Speakers, tell me more:
By Sinells death, I know I am Thane of Glamis,
But how, of Cawdor? the Thane of Cawdor liues
A prosperous Gentleman: And to be King,
Stands not within the prospect of beleefe,
No more then to be Cawdor. Say from whence
You owe this strange Intelligence, or why
Vpon this blasted Heath you stop our way
With such Prophetique greeting?
Speake, I charge you.

Well-known extracts from two of the greatest English writers that ever committed their words to the page, yet written in versions of our language that are very far from what we're used to today. Even allowing for the fact that they're in verse, they're still not exactly what you hear on the Clapham omnibus (or should that be bus? Or even 'bus, for the REAL pedants?) these days.

Shakespeare is estimated to have introduced roughly 1,500 words to the English language. I'm sure he'd heartily approve of "Can I get a skinny latte, please?"

Language changes with time. Get over it.

I'll have a skinny half double decaf latte with a twist of lemon!
What's the point?

People who walk around with a bluetooth earpiece permanently inserted surely score 110 points on the Prat-o-meter?

What ever happened to old fashioned concepts like "please" and "thank you"? "A regular cappuccino, please" said in a polite, friendly manner might not just make you feel good, but make the poor bugger earning minimum wage behind the counter feel valued and may even result in a smile and better service.

Am I being dreadfully old fashioned banging on about this? Well, so be it. Why is courtesy seen as pointless in this day and age? Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength, as some wise chap once put it.