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Chit Chat
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26 Nov 17
16:48
Joined:
Date Joined:
09 Jul 09
.....took my youngest daughter and family for lunch today.
Daughter to waitress......"Can I get a glass of dry white wine"?
I was mortified, and that is what you get for working with an American company!
You do the math!!
Daughter to waitress......"Can I get a glass of dry white wine"?
I was mortified, and that is what you get for working with an American company!
You do the math!!
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It's "may I get" not "can I get."
This was drummed into me at a very early age at school by one of teachers, an ex R.A.F. officer. If someone put up their hand and said, "Please Sir can I be excused?" (Meaning they wanted to leave class to go to the toilet). He would say" I don't know if you can but if you can you may." |
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Mortified! I'm sure we all would. FFS somebody burst this bubble.
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Can I have
I will have |
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Or as the weeges say geeussa
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next time she may say "can I have" or "may I have" however the mood takes her,think you are being slightly OTT
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Lunch with the OP sounds ****.
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Is the OP Aunty Post?
I hope she says 'Would you like large fries with that?' when she's at work! |
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I am guilty of can I get - blame the wife
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I'd guess most of us are, Hank. 'May I' sounds a bit poncy to me.
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I'm with slippy on this one
however we are sliding into the pit - this is just more evidence of it and don't ask me about the use of old slang either I won't recount the time I asked a slovakian bar person what the 'damage' was you can imaging the sirens and cars arriving ho ho |
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Language is constantly changing. Even though I'm fully aware the correct phrase is "may I get" I still use "can I get" a lot. If you walked in to a pub (a proper pub) you'd never been in before and said 'May I have a beer/lager " everyone in there would probably start laughing at you. "may I" as Kenbo said sounds poncy but at least "can I get a pint of beer" sounds politer than "pint of beer".
The main issue should have been her failure to use the word please when asking. |
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My current language complaint is the missuse of the word "had".
To my mind if you've had something done that generally means you organised it. So when I read that someone had their house burgled or their mobile phone stolen I always wonder why anybody would arrange such a thing  |
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...Better send round the Cockney thug.
'i'm gonna sort out this syntactic cripple' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCIgUSNzSKU |
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s.kenbo 26 Nov 17 19:58
"I'd guess most of us are, Hank. 'May I' sounds a bit poncy to me." Well I could not disagree with you more if I tried, that is not a "poncy" way to address people in a bar or restaurant who are serving you and your table as you put it. It is a polite and respectful way of ordering what it is you would like. I've been saying it that way ever since I was in short trousers, I'm not poncy in the slightest by the way either. To me it's just decent and considerate manners. |
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Only stuck-up folk say 'may I,' Shirley?
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What's wrong with I'll have a dry white wine rather than pi55ing about with May I or Can I?
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Imagine how sh1t A Tribe Called Quest's 'May I Kick It?' would be, for starters!
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What's wrong with I'll have a dry white wine rather than pi55ing about with May I or Can I?
Comes across as impolite and as if you are talking to the help. Especially without a please. |
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yes you may!!!
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So you're at the bar and the barperson asks what are you having.
What's wrong with I'll have a pint thanks. Never would I say Can I or May I. Would have thought please/thanks was a give. |
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If they ask what are you having then of course "I'll have a pint" is perfectly fine but I'd feel a bit of a prick if a bar man just looked at me to then say "I'll have" . I feel it's more polite to use "can I" as opposed to "I'll have" if it's the first words said because one seems more like an order and one a question. It depends on the situation though either way you don't often meet overly pedantic bar men so it's unlikely to ever be a issue unless you are luncheon with the OP.
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either way you don't often meet overly pedantic bar men
That's correct unless you're a barman.  |
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I'm not a barman. Barkeeper or bartender maybe.
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I agree with 11kv.
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Well I was assuming by your forum name you are a male and as you had used the term barmen I followed suit albeit earlier I had been pc with my barperson.
Over to you.  |
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'Can I get two pints of Lager, and one White Wine, please?' That sounds better to me than 'May I get two pints of Lager, and one White Wine, please?' They're both polite.
Another wrong one that I use, and also prefer is 'Me and the Missus' as opposed to 'The Missus and I'. I always notice when someone says it correctly, but don't when it's said wrongly. I almost think to myself 'Look at you using the correct terminology'. |
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I think it's different, for some reason, at the bar!
No need for 'may I', 'can I', 'I would like' etc.... I would usually just say 'a pint of Stella please' after usual courtesies in greeting! |
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Well done Lady FV, you're the only one who has added please to the end of your request.
Good manners and drives me mad when people don't say it. |
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As has been said, the language is developing all the time.
Some things expressed correctly in print, don't seem correct when spoken.. For instance "which cinema are we going to"? If you said "to which cinema are we going"..... people would look at you, as if you had a slate loose! |
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Bet she wished that she ordered the bottle
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The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.
As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English". In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter. There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter. In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away. By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v". During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali **** tru. Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas. |