"Can I get"

[Facilitatingdarkness]

What's wrong with "Can I have"?

It doesn't even make grammatical sense! I've noticed it more and more when people are ordering coffee, to the point that more people say it than not.

Makes me irrationally angry. Just me?

Coming on to agree with pp who said it’s common usage in Scotland, and not an Americanism there.

It's Scottish. It used to bother me, but I got used to it.

I know what you mean.

My parents have always said ‘I’ll have….’ When ordering and it makes me cringe but I don’t know why. It seems so presumptuous. But they say it politely with always please and thank you I just hate it

It's because everyone in coffee shops says 'what can I get you?'. Customers there respond 'please can i get...'

But the obvious answer to the question 'what can I get you' is 'I'll have a flat white please'.

I’ve noticed that Americans on tiktok etc when ordering will say “I’m going to do…” so in a bar “I’m going to do a margarita and he’s going to do a beer”. I saw a video with someone ordering a box of a dozen cupcakes and she said “I’m going to do three chocolate, then I’ll do three strawberry… etc”. Or in the Starbucks drive thru “I’m going to do a venti chocolate chip frap”.

I love you 😁

Aww shucks!

Except it’s nice to retain a few quirks of English as spoken in the UK. Once we surrender our entire vocabulary and use of English to the US version, we’ll have lost a little something.

We have room for more than one way of phrasing things though, don't we? Absorbing new expressions doesn't automatically mean erasing other ones. There are plenty of people who don't say 'Can I get...'

@Plumtree391

'May I have', would be better.

I was taught that 'got' and 'get' should be used minimally - and it 'gets' to me when I hear or see the words too often .

(I won't mention 'gotten'.)

Quite right not to mention "gotten". A word that's been around for centuries and used correctly across huge swathes of the English speaking world, but for some reason viewed with snobbery in one small corner. Wouldn't want someone to mistakenly put you in that ignorant category.

So many of these threads and so many posters with no understanding that the way they speak English is not in fact the only correct way.

Can I put in another plea for a simple, polite "I'd like...please,"?

@Chunkymenrock

It's incredibly rude. 'May I have a xxx please' is far nicer.

It's not rude ffs! "May I have" is asking permission, which is grammatically incorrect! If I were the barista I'd be tempted to answer, "yes, you may" and then stand there looking at you.

It probably came about when waiters (in America) started to ask "what can I get for you today"

Customer then responds "can I get a coffee"

I don't like it
I don't hate it

It does come across rude when the customer says "I'll get a coffee"

I see this a lot on the reality TV shows I watch , but I'm assuming they edited out the "what can I get you " question maybe.

I much prefer ‘can I get’ to MN users finding it ‘horrid’ and ‘seething’ about it.

It's not rude ffs! "May I have" is asking permission, which is grammatically incorrect!

Can you explain why that is grammatically incorrect? You might argue that it's semantically incorrect I suppose (I'd disagree), but it's certainly not grammatically incorrect.

Of course "may I have" is grammatically correct.
I don't like "can I get", it is politer to say "I would like", I think.

I’m Scottish too. “can I get” may be more common there but surely “Geeza” is the standard .

Can I get a latte? No, you're not allowed behind the counter?
May I have a latte? Yes of course, just order one.
I would like a latte. That's great, order one.
Can I have a latte? Yes I'm sure you're capable of drinking a coffee.

Turns out it's possible to willfully misinterpret most common ways of ordering a coffee. Perhaps not "Would you please bring me a latte".

Urghhhh,I agree OP. I also loathe 'grab.' it's so aggressive. Grab is not a nice word.

It always sounds odd to me when I hear it. The barister gets the coffee; the customer has it.

@INB4

It always sounds odd to me when I hear it. The barister gets the coffee; the customer has it.

“Your honour, it is my submission that my learned friend has failed to acknowledge the appropriate proportion of milk to coffee in a tall skinny latte and I therefore place before the Court a beverage which satisfies the relevant criteria”

I find it more annoying when people say "have you got" when I serve them. Eg have you got a lotto for tonight? I want to reply yes I have thanks.

@sandgrown

My English teacher's response to “can I get a coffee “ would be I don’t know can you ?

Then your English teacher needs to do some serious retraining or is 120.

@Rozziie. You win the Dunning-Kruger award of the day.

@lazylinguist

It's not rude ffs! "May I have" is asking permission, which is grammatically incorrect!

Can you explain why that is grammatically incorrect? You might argue that it's semantically incorrect I suppose (I'd disagree), but it's certainly not grammatically incorrect.

In acknowledgement of your, as ever, sterling work and endless patience as we ride tandem on these threads, I'm hiding this one now as there's a limit to how many times I can be arsed to say the same thing

Till the next time pardner.

Can I get is a perfectly valid way of ordering something, I don't think it's rude once you use please and thank you with it. Also I don't think baristas want a long formal introduction to the order, I'd imagine they just want you to phrase it clearly.

I'm Irish so people would think there was something wrong with me if I said "May I have?", I don't have Kirstie Allsop's accent so I'm not going to borrow her phrasing either.

There's loads of phrases that annoy me but I don't pretend they're wrong, I just don't like them. When did everyone start saying schooling instead of education, and why does it seem everyone has just dropped the away from the phrase "passed away".

@lazylinguist

It's not rude ffs! "May I have" is asking permission, which is grammatically incorrect!

Can you explain why that is grammatically incorrect? You might argue that it's semantically incorrect I suppose (I'd disagree), but it's certainly not grammatically incorrect.

What I meant was, grammatically speaking, 'may' is the wrong word to use when not asking permission. So yes, I think it counts as a grammar mistake, but I accept that my phrasing was not the best.