to not understand why Americans call a main course an entrée?

[flummoxedworried]

Does anyone understand why this happens?

If I said ' I get flowers for my birthday every year' I would mean I received them and NOT that I 'fetched' or bought them myself.

And likewise, when an American says "can I get" to a waiter, they mean, "can I receive," not can I fetch it myself. The word "get" has no built in reflexive sense.

I suspect that people who claim to be "confused" about "can I get?" are not at all confused and just using that word because they don't want to admit that they just don't like the usage.

To be fair I think I've claimed confusion on a thread before when what I meant was "I don't like how you have said that".

Ah yes. Building works. There are tons of terminology differences. Builder/contractor, skip/dumpster, sparky/electrician etc.

Similarly "redecorating" in England seems to mean just repainting. In Canada it means re-doing or replacing all of your furniture, soft furnishings, curtains, light fixtures and all of that sort of thing in addition to changing the colour of the walls!

I don't know about don't like but....

'Can I get' implies an action on my part so if I asked a waiter can I get a glass of wine I would expect to be told: 'No, customers are not allowed behind the bar but I will get one for you' 😁

Why would you replace all,your furniture?!

It has no such implication in American usage. Perhaps it does in British usage. But the American usage is not wrong as so many people on MN seem to think.

I suspect that the British use replaced 'get' with 'fetch', and now 'get' in that context sounds wrong, when it's just out of date.

A lot of American usage actually is more traditional than modern British usage. The Americans were pretty adamant about keeping to correct English and set up their schools to teach it rigorously.

In Canada it means re-doing or replacing all of your furniture, soft furnishings, curtains, light fixtures and all of that sort of thing in addition to changing the colour of the walls!

It has this connotation in the US as well. In fact, you might do all that without changing the wall color. And "decorator" means a professional interior decorator who advises on how to do all this re-decorating.

"Builder" is an interesting one too. In the US, it means the business you contract with to do the work so a "contractor." The people who actually show up to do the work would usually be called "workmen" or "workers."

Well not necessarily ALL your furniture!

@SenecaFalls,

I don't think it's anything to do with 'right' or 'wrong'....but it is interesting the differences in ordering 'etiquette'.

A phrase that may grate on my or anyone else's ears doesn't make it wrong per se.....just different according to country, region etc

I agree that it's not a matter of right or wrong; but often on MN that use of "get" is cited as wrong. I suppose I assumed that was what you were suggesting when you said "what they really mean is . . ."

It would be wrong in English grammar though. I'm sure there's other things English people say that wouldn't sound right to American ears!

That reminds me of the confusion when hosting some Americans and offering a drink on arrival and they drawled replied 'Mallset' - well that's what my untuned ear heard. I thought they were asking for a specific type of drink. They actually said "I'm all set." Which translates to - no thank you, I don't want a drink.

sparky/electrician

You'd refer to an electrician in a professional work setting as "sparky?" That makes me giggle.

The idea of replacing all your furniture and soft furnishings whenever you "redecorate" sounds dreadfully wasteful to me. And of course lots of British people secretly imagine that they are "landed gentry" where all furniture are antiques so possibly 100s of years old.

Steinbeck, was the for me? Becauae what you said was exactly the point I was making!

steff13 on film sets in either country they're called sparks too (although you have other roles in there like gaffer, best boy, grip etc)

Oops, sorry Eolian, that should have been an

I just love this thread. I'm a northern lass married to a southern softie who works for an American company and we live in Scotland. Loads of different versions of 'English'!

And for those who don't know, calling someone 'soft' is a serious insult in the north of England

No probs, Steinbeck - you clearly just temporarily lost control of your eyebrow.
Good points upthread about us Brits often feigning 'confusion' when what we really mean is that we don't like a particular expression. I confess to not being a big fan of "y'all". Although I think what has partly irritated me about it is the tons of people on the internet who write "ya'll" instead . But I spare plenty of indignation for incorrect or annoying British phrases too.

Well, I grew up and still live in the Deep South of the US, so I get to say y'all with complete impunity.

I y'all with impunity too, Seneca! I grew up in the South.............well, Southern California.

I put mine down to having three besties who are from Georgia, Texas, and No Carolina.