{"id":674,"date":"2014-07-29T00:41:17","date_gmt":"2014-07-29T07:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rottendanish.com\/?p=674"},"modified":"2014-10-07T08:51:48","modified_gmt":"2014-10-07T15:51:48","slug":"you-can-get-get-if-you-really-try","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rottendanish.com\/?p=674","title":{"rendered":"You can get “get”, if you really try…"},"content":{"rendered":"

The strange and many meanings of the word “get”: Watching a movie on TV the other night, the plot involved someone saying something very true to someone who was\u00a0not in the mood to listen to it, so the words\u00a0\u00a0“get out!” got\u00a0yelled out\u00a0on the screen. Then some building fire ensued and this time what was uttered was “get Fluffy (the dog) and get out!!”. Nothing strange there, one would think. Unfortunately, with the\u00a0linguistic mind turned on, rather than paying attention to the unfolding drama on the flickering screen, what I noticed was the peculiarity\u00a0of the English language, as illustrated by these common “get <something>!” exuberances. “Get\u00a0 out” seems to make no sense, when compared to “get Fluffy”. You “get” Fluffy the dog by catching the dog, -but how do you “get” or catch an\u00a0“out”??… In the TV-drama, I think the disgruntled husband was a suspect regarding starting\u00a0the fire that endangered Fluffy, but I really can’t tell you much more than that \ud83d\ude42 The English word “Get” is generally understood to mean “acquire” or “bring”, especially when followed by a noun, like in<\/p>\n

get\u00a0a hammer
\nget Fluffy
\nget some money<\/p>\n

Since the implied motion of the get-events above is towards<\/strong> me, so to speak\u00a0(by getting the hammer, Fluffy or money I bring them towards me), it struck me as odd that “get out!” then means exactly the opposite, getting away<\/strong> from something or someone. I didn’t quite\u00a0get it<\/strong>… Ha ha. The explanation is that “get” has this other very peculiar meaning or usage in English when followed by a adverb or an adjective: then it means “bring yourself into\u00a0the state of being <adverb or adjective>: Very\u00a0clever, that three letters G, E and T can replace all that!:<\/p>\n

Get wealthy => Bring yourself into the state of being wealthy
\nGet happy ==>\u00a0Bring yourself into the state of being\u00a0happy
\nGet going ==>\u00a0Bring yourself into the state of being\u00a0in motion
\nGet out \u00a0 ==> Bring yourself into the state of being\u00a0OUT(side)<\/p>\n

-and just when it all starts making logical sense, no language would be a human language if there weren’t a few exceptions*: *Actually there are many, many more. See Post Scriptum below.<\/em><\/p>\n

Get lucky ==> Go have sex! Unless you’re on your way to Las Vegas, then indeed “bring yourself into the state of being lucky”
\nGet off ==> Slang: Finish having sex, orgasm.
\nGet it ==> \u00a0 \u00a0Understand
\nGet with it ==> Follow a trend
\nGet-go \u00a0 ==> From the beginning
\nGet down \u00a0==> In modern English: Get happy. Which strangely enough is the exact opposite of being down (and depressed).<\/p>\n

And picking from\u00a0the movie idea that inspired this post, if James Bond chased a villain named Out, then “Get Out” would mean “Bring her\/him here”, while “Get out” (without the capitalization) would send Mr. Bond in the opposite direction… I can’t wait to see this idea brought out in the next Bond movie (all right reserved)… James Bond might have a thoughtful moment pondering: “Which Out, did Q mean?? Do I go right or go left now? Do I go in or do I go out?”… Ah, forGET it… \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

—————————————————————————————————–<\/span> Post Scriptum (August 7, 2014): According to The Oxford Dictionary’s definition of the word “get”<\/span><\/a>, it seems that I only scratched the surface in my blog regarding the multiple uses and varied meanings of “get”. There must be at least 30 more different meanings of “get”…<\/span><\/span> Interestingly, from the Oxford Dictionary::<\/span><\/p>\n

Usage of get
\n<\/strong><\/em>The verb\u00a0get<\/strong>\u00a0is in the top five of the most common verbs in the English language<\/span>. Nevertheless, there is still a feeling that almost any use containing\u00a0get<\/strong>\u00a0is somewhat informal. No general informal label has been applied to this dictionary entry, but in formal writing it is worth bearing this reservation in mind.<\/em><\/p>\n

Origins\u00a0of get
\n<\/strong>Origins of the word: “Middle English: from Old Norse geta ‘obtain, beget, guess’; related to Old English gietan (in begietan ‘beget’, forgietan ‘forget’), from an Indo-European root shared by Latin praeda ‘booty, prey’, praehendere ‘get hold of, seize’, and Greek khandanein ‘hold, contain, be able’. \"Jimmy<\/a> \"english-getout\"<\/a> \"you-got-99-on-test-why-you-not-get-100-get-out\"<\/a> \"Slade<\/a> \"AnimalsWeGotta\"<\/a> \"SATISFACTION\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n \n \"Fb-Button\"\n <\/a>\n <\/div>
<\/fb:like><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The strange and many meanings of the word “get”: Watching a movie on TV the other night, the plot involved someone saying something very true to someone who was\u00a0not in the mood to listen to it, so the words\u00a0\u00a0“get out!” … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,13,4,15,5,12,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ambigous-english","category-different-meaning","category-funny","category-no-equivalent","category-rottendanish","category-same-words","category-words-used-opposite-of-their-meaning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rottendanish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rottendanish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rottendanish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rottendanish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rottendanish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=674"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/rottendanish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":687,"href":"https:\/\/rottendanish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674\/revisions\/687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rottendanish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rottendanish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rottendanish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}