If you said that you were “happy to spring for a takeaway”..

[CurlewKate]

..would your friendship circle knew what you meant?

No I've never heard of it but I know what patronising means.

Never heard of it

That’s a phrase I’ve never heard in my 63 years. It either means that you’re going to treat everyone to a takeaway or that you want them to pay for one.

Linguistic here (EN is one of my 6 languages, & the 2nd of my main languages).
As you’ve grown up with and always thought it means you’ll pay for a takeaway (for everyone).
You are not “poorly read” etc - if anything having linguistic variety, dexterity & a rich bank of expressions is a huge plus & enriching :)

I didn’t mean to be patronising. But I really think anyone who claims they couldn’t even make a guess must be doing that weird thing people do like saying they’ve never heard of the Spice Girls or David Attenborough….

I've never heard the phrase but would have guessed along the lines of you actually offer to go and get the takeaway, as in spring up off the sofa and spring into action!

I am in my sixties. I have heard of the Spice Girls and David Attenborough.

I still haven’t ever heard the “spring for” phrase and would ask what the speaker meant.

I am wondering why this is bothering you so much?

If I heard some one say it, I'd probably react "sorry, didn't catch that" or similar. I agree with @Westfacing it could equally mean "I'll go and collect it"

I'm not sure why the OP is getting so worked up about it.

On the word Takeaway - for the past couple of years as a result of US news commentators it's now common for UK media to say things like:

5 Takeaways from the climate summit, then go on to list five major points or conclusions, opinions, etc.

I don't like it!

Exactly!

OP, you are being ridiculous and insulting in likening never having heard this expression to saying you’ve never heard of the Spice Girls or Attenborough. If you’ve read all the responses you will have seen that a lot of posters have simply never come across the phrase before. It’s nothing to do with being, or pretending to be, out of touch, or a 'fuddy-duddy' (particularly as several posters have said it is an old-fashioned phrase).

To say "surely you could make a guess" is silly - I would have guessed that it could mean any of "I’m happy to pay for my share of a takeaway" or "I’m happy to go and collect a takeaway (if you all give me your share of the cost)" or "I’m happy to vote for us all getting a takeaway" or several other possibilities.

I don’t understand why it apparently worries you so much that a sizeable number of people have never heard the expression before.

Well I'd never heard of it and I guessed it meant willing to spring into action to go and fetch some food.
To leap or spring out of the house esp late at night or when it might otherwise be inconvenient.
Had no notion of this meaning and no need to use it.
Have never heard nor read it anywhere.
And I am older than most on here.

South west England here and I know what it means, but I can’t remember ever hearing anyone actually use it.

I've never heard this phrase either but I'm assuming it doesn't just have to apply to takeaways, ie I'm happy to spring for a round of drinks? Or lunch in the pub?

Just wondering why you asked this question - did you have someone being deliberately obtuse?

You are just objectively wrong if you are claiming you have to know it it, for it to be common. No opinion involved.

Common side effects must confuse you though on medications . . . . . .

Yes of course.

But I didn’t claim I have to know it for it to be common; I pointed out that a lot of posters on this thread also say they've never heard of it. Sorry to spoil your ill-natured point.

Likewise. I’m Scottish and I could take a guess at what it means but I’ve never heard anyone IRL use the term.

www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/spring-for

Why do you assume obtuse? The only slang use of "spring" I know of is "spring from prison". And that only from fiction, not real life. I think I'd be puzzled by someone "springing for a takeaway"

I would assume you were willing to pay for one (for yourself) and are asking/suggesting we all get one (paying for our own).
I wouldn’t think you were offering to pay for everyone’s unless you were specific about that. I’d think of it as interchangeable with “shell out”.

Apologies if I upset anyone-it was certainly not my intention. And I’m not remotely worked up- I would have posted more than 4 times if I was! I was surprised that people said they had no idea at all what it meant- it seemed obvious to me (as it was to the group of people I was with) that it was something to do with ordering pizza and who was going to pay what. I think around half thought wit me that it meant I intended to pay for everyone- the other half weren’t sure whether I meant that or that I intended to pay for my own only. I suspect most of the last group was simply worried about making assumptions. Which is a very good reason not to use the expression again. Nobody in the group had absolutely no idea at all what I meant.

You didn’t ask people to take a guess though 🤷🏻‍♀️ You asked “would your friendship circle know what you meant”.