Bring vs. Take
Lets suppose you need to personally deliver an item to a place you're not otherwise going to visit. Lets go old school and say you need to drop off a paper prescription to a pharmacy.
Are you bringing it or taking it?
"I have to bring an Rx to drop off at the pharmacy" or "I have to take an Rx to drop off at the pharmacy"?
I've always used and heard people I know use "take", but have recently heard more and more people use "bring" in this manner a lot, and it always sounds really weird to me....
Is this a regional thing?
** Edited by JoesterVT at 12/14/2023, 8:55:04 AM
27 Replies
2y
(In response to this post by JoesterVT)
Maybe they just don't give shiRt
(In response to this post by Will Stewart)
2y
darn you.
(In response to this post by JoesterVT)
2y
(In response to this post by JoesterVT)
D
Dan1993
2y
You're going to the drugstore for other things, bring your prescription.
If the drugstore is a separate errand along with liquor store, HDMI store, and Apple store - you take your prescription to the drugstore.
(In response to this post by JoesterVT)
2y
bring your choice to a conclusion
** Edited by Hokebury at 12/14/2023, 1:30:16 PM
(In response to this post by JoesterVT)
2y
(In response to this post by JoesterVT)
2y
So if you are leaving a location we currently share, and it is raining I might say don't forget to TAKE an umbrella with you. Because the key fact [to me] is that you are leaving. Obviously you have a destination in mind but that is not really pertinent.
If you are going to a party and you promised to bring dip, I might say don't forget to BRING the dip. Because the more pertinent factor is that you are going to the party and that is where the dip is needed. Where you are leaving from is not really relevant to that discussion.
(In response to this post by JoesterVT)
2y
...if you are leaving home and plan on going to three different destinations first and THEN the party, I would say don't forget to TAKE the dip with you. Because they key point is that you have to have the dip with you when you leave home.
(In response to this post by SteveInBaltimore)
2y
My co-workers know me in the context of work, so they know that I BRING a lunch to work every day.
[I live alone but let's say I lived with family or roommates]: Someone that lives with me knows that I TAKE a lunch to work every day.
Now if another person from neither work nor home asks me whether I take/bring my own lunch to work, either might be appropriate. They might be thinking of me as a worker and wonder if I eat sitting at my desk (so do I BRING a lunch?), or they might be wondering if I buy stuff for the lunch and prepare it each morning and pack it and it goes with me to work (so do I TAKE a lunch?).
So there are situations where both is appropriate. But no one is ever going to say "what night do you bring out the trash"? They'll ask what night do you TAKE out the trash. Unless they happen to live right where you bring the trash to so their perspective is solely that you occasionally come out of the house with trash and leave it near them.
(In response to this post by SteveInBaltimore)
2y
even in cases where take is clearly appropriate, there is a now a set of people who use bring. That's why I was wondering if it was regional.
** Edited by JoesterVT at 12/14/2023, 11:47:27 AM
(In response to this post by SteveInBaltimore)
2y
"I've got to go bring this package to the post office" or "Wednesday I have to bring my dog to the vet"
This is a relatively new phenomenon for me....where did it come from?
(In response to this post by SteveInBaltimore)
2y
Obviously someone at the vet may talk about your bringing your dog in, because that's what is happening from their point of view.
But anyone else, should probably use take.
(In response to this post by JoesterVT)
I take things somewhere. Someone else brings them to me.
(In response to this post by JoesterVT)
L
LaneRat
2y
Instead of taking it out, or take it to the green box/dumpster.
(In response to this post by JoesterVT)
2y
I asked, do we put them on our backs?
(In response to this post by JoesterVT)
It depends on who you are talking to. If I am talking to someone in my
physical presence, I would use take. If I am speaking to someone at the location I need to go to, I would use bring.
(In response to this post by JoesterVT)
2y
I would tell him that I would bring it. But as I walk out the door, I would tell the people with that I was going to take it to the pharmacy.
(In response to this post by Femoyer Hokie)
Right... depends on who you're talking to
If you're talking to the recipient then you say "I'll bring that to you" but if you're taling to others it would be "I'm taking it to (recipient)"
(In response to this post by JoesterVT)
Yep... all depends on the context
Like Femoyer said and you clarified... if you're talking to the recipient of the item, you let them know you are bringing it to them. If you're talking to anyone else, then you tell them you're taking the item to the recipient
(In response to this post by JoesterVT)
2y
but if it is me, I 'take' it. 'Bring' makes no sense to me in that scenario.
(In response to this post by JoesterVT)
2y
âOK, pal. Take it!!â ??
(In response to this post by vt90)
2y
Food, and items. Remember to bring the casserole to the dinner tomorrow or Remember to bring $10 for the gift tomorrow.
(In response to this post by JoesterVT)