|
|
Go fetch or go and fetch in AmE???
hey all! I'd like to know if in AmE we can say go fetch or go get etc.. or is it compulsory to use "and" as in BrE?
And another question, how do you order coffee (black or white) in AmE? Do you just say with or without? Thank you
go fetch is more informal i guess. i would say go fetch when talking but in written i'd seriously consider putting the "and".
Both "go fetch" and "go and fetch" are acceptable in American English.
As for your second question, I imagine you would say "I'll have a coffee, black please" or "I'd like my coffee with cream and/or milk." In most restaurants you just order a coffee, then the waitress will ask you how you want it. But take everything I say with a grain of salt. I am not a coffee drinker.
I agree with JW on both points, although as Brennus said, "fetch" isn't used very much in modern American English (outside of the context of "playing fetch" with a pet dog).
Brennus and Lazar,
I come from Mississippi. And I assure you that down here "fetch" is still alive and well. I and many of my fellow southerners use it daily.
So, "black coffee" is politically correct in the States? No racial ambiguities here?
<<I come from Mississippi. And I assure you that down here "fetch" is still alive and well. I and many of my fellow southerners use it daily.>>
I think I may have overgeneralized a bit; it's just that "fetch" isn't used much in my own dialect. To Torsten: <<So, "black coffee" is politically correct in the States?>> Yes. <<No racial ambiguities here?>> Nope, absolutely none.
Brennus,
I don't deny that "fetch" is just a little anachronism preserved in my local dialect. I just thought you'd like to know about it. And I really hope it's not on its way out. If it is, I'll have to go against the steam and use it more and more often.
Excellent. The mayor of our town has a heavy Chinese accent. I can't wait till everyone starts to speak English like him.
Is the word "fetch" more used in the northern states? What's the modern word used in the States instead of "fetch", is it the verb "get?"
So using the term "black coffee" has become rude in the US? Thanks a lot for your replies!
<<Is the word "fetch" more used in the northern states?>>
From what JW says, if anything, I think "fetch" might be used more in the southern states. ("Northern states" is a really vague term, anyway.) Here in New England, I really don't hear "fetch" very much. <<What's the modern word used in the States instead of "fetch", is it the verb "get?">> Yep (outside of the context of "playing fetch" with a dog, in which case pretty much all dialects still use "fetch"). <<So using the term "black coffee" has become rude in the US?>> No, it definitely has not. "Black coffee" is the standard term, and it has absolutely no racial connotations.
Lots of things are black in the US, without having anything at all to do with race. Black coffee has NO racial connotations at all. Neither do black licorice, black market, blackball, blackmail, to be "in the black" businesswise, a black mood, blacktop, blackboards, blackberries, "black sheep", blacksmith, or blackout.
We don't take our coffee "white" usually, just "light" or "with cream" or "with milk". "Fetch" and "get" are interchangeable, and it just depends on what I'm saying, but I'm more apt to say "get". Western states tend to preserve more southernisms, I think, though we sound more like northerners in accent.
I agree with Uriel, Western states do preserve more southern words. I took a quiz called rebel or yank once. It was trying to guess where you were from by what words you were apt to use. I got 55% Rebel, 45% Yank and no guesses as to where I was from. I've lived in California my whole life and the farthest I've traveled is to Navada.
|