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 Wed Apr 16, 2008 13:31 pm What does fetch mean? |
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Hi Torsten
If you want to know whether whole texts sound 'natural' or not, why don't you open a separate thread about that?
Just a suggestion.
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| Wed Apr 16, 2008 14:17 pm What does fetch mean? |
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By the way, I have asked you quite a number of questions that you still have not answered. 
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| Wed Apr 16, 2008 14:23 pm What does fetch mean? |
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You are right Amy, the initial question of this thread was not about how 'fetch' is used in American or British English. A user just wanted to know what 'fetch' means. That's when you started a discussion about American usage of this verb and I absolutely agree with you when you say that this should have been done in a separate thread. The current thread is called "what does fetch mean?" If you really are interested in providing our users with information on American language usage, you should start a thread which could be called something along this line: "fetch vs. get -- American vs. British English".
What do you think?
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Torsten
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| Wed Apr 16, 2008 14:57 pm What does fetch mean? |
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Hi,
While we're in a 'fetch' mode, I thought I'd throw in a couple of other examples of how the word works in my neck of the woods, as they say.
'Fetch up in a place' suggests meet someone or a group of people in a place like a restaurant or bar.
And then there's 'fetching' suggesting 'attractive' used for 'smile' or 'clothes', usually with reference to women.
Just a thought.
Alan
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| Wed Apr 16, 2008 15:11 pm What does fetch mean? |
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| Alan wrote: | 'Fetch up in a place' suggests meet someone or a group of people in a place like a restaurant or bar.
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Hi, Alan
I know that fetch up also means to barf, puke. I wonder if this use is strictly limited to the USA or British people use it in that meaning as well.
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 lost_soul
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| Wed Apr 16, 2008 15:21 pm What does fetch mean? |
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Hi Alex,
You're right about the puking meaning but I was just trying to use the delicate meaning!
Alan
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| Wed Apr 16, 2008 16:04 pm What does fetch mean? |
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Here are some more examples that show how the verb fetch is used by our American friend John Grisham:
"Van Thiessen directed his client to the leather chairs while Elke and another assistant scurried around to fetch coffee and pastries."
"He had slept little. He had waited in the darkness on his front porch for the paper to arrive, then ran to fetch it in his pajamas and bathrobe."
"Chap left early to fetch the money."
"Inside, he drank coffee and chatted with the waitress long enough to persuade her to go fetch a local phone directory."
"Ron called him while Doreen ran next door to fetch a neighbor."
"A limo fetched them on the ramp, just a few feet from where they stepped off the plane."
"The Paytons, their cheeks warm from the bubbly, went to their apartment, changed into casual clothes, then drove to the school to fetch Mack and Liza."
"Go upstairs to my office, fetch Mr. Buckley, and lead him into the conference room, where I'll meet him."
"Jonah was still at the office. He began yelling into the phone, then threw it down to go fetch Rodney."
"An assistant finally fetched him and led him down a wide hall lined with spacious offices."
"She became a client of J. Clay Carter when her sister saw the Larkin Gazette and arranged to come fetch her for the screening."
"Whatever she was, she managed to fetch Mr. Carter out of the back faster than anyone in the short history of the firm."
She flashed a smile when she saw me, and said, "Mr. Traynor, so nice of you to come. Please sit. Esau, fetch Mr. Traynor some tea."
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| Thu Apr 17, 2008 7:48 am What does fetch mean? |
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Hi Torsten
Well done. We've established that John Grisham seems to be fond of the word 'fetch'. I suppose that might have something do do with his southern roots.
| Torsten wrote: | | You are right Amy, the initial question of this thread was not about how 'fetch' is used in American or British English. A user just wanted to know what 'fetch' means. |
Yes, that was the first question in the thread, Torsten. However, another user later asked this question:
| udaykiranb wrote: | | Are there any special cases where I should not use "fetch" |
Alan initially chose to give a very general definition of the word 'fetch' in response to the initial question. I chose to give some general information from an American point of view in response to a later question in the thread. I had no reason to think that responding to a question was frowned on. It's sad that you seem to feel that a response from anyone but you or Alan is inappropriate. It's equally sad that you seem to feel that I should provide you with with every single definition that exists for the word 'fetch'. Did you understand Alan's first two posts? If you'd actually been interested in the word 'fetch', it seems to me you'd have asked Alan for more information as well. It's become quite clear to me that you are not really interested in the word at all. Instead, you're annoyed because I regularly let people know that my responses do not necessarily reflect British English, because I've dared to point out errors in your blessed tests, because I've voiced an opinion about what I thought would improve those tests, because I have only posted in the forums and have not written any tests, and because I don't happen to agree with every single thing you and Alan say and do.
| Quote: | | If you really are interested in providing our users with information on American language usage, you should start a thread which could be called something along this line: "fetch vs. get -- American vs. British English". |
What a strange suggestion. In view of your posts about the use of the word 'fetch' in this thread, clearly it is you are the one who should have started a new thread long ago. Saying that I should have done it is simply laughable, Torsten.
I responded to your questions despite the fact that I suspected they were not actually serious, and despite the fact that I suspected that you weren't even interested in the usages that I'd mentioned. Your last post certainly seems to confirm those suspicions. However, by all means, start a new thread about the word 'fetch' if you're so inclined. When you start your new thread, maybe you could begin by posting what you already know or think you know. Then you could make an incredibly general request for further information. If and when any further information is posted, you could then continue to ignore parts of it, accept parts of it, ask people to repeat themselves, ask people to post dictionary definitions for you, ask about slang usage, ask about teenager usage, ask about dated and archaic usage, written usage, spoken usage, legal usage, business usage, medical usage, vulgar usage, talking-in-your-sleep usage, etc. Whatever. Heck, you could even state at the beginning of your thread that you don't really want input about anything other than British English, for example. In short, you could do whatever floats your boat.
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| Thu Apr 17, 2008 10:10 am What does fetch mean? |
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Amy, please try to stay on the subject. None of the sentences I quoted have anything to do with the long list of usages you posted. I never have asked for them nor have I asked for dictionary definitions. Why would I do that when I can look them up in dictionaries myself? Where and when did I ask you to give us every single definition of a word? What you have been trying to do is explain to us how a word is NOT used in your neck of the woods without defining where that might be. What I have been trying to do is find out how 'fetch' might be used in American English. Why don't you want to give our forum users the chance to learn more about the usage of certain words? Why do you launch personal attacks on me when I quote sentences written by John Grisham? I have the impression that you are angry because an American writer uses a word differently than the folks in your 'neck of the woods'.
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| Thu Apr 17, 2008 13:10 pm What does fetch mean? |
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What I have been trying to do is find out how 'fetch' might be used in American English.
What do you mean by American English, Torsten?
This?
American English (AmE, AE, AmEng, USEng, en-US[1]), also known as United States English or U.S. English, is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_English |
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| Thu Apr 17, 2008 13:14 pm Fetch means collect and bring back |
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| Torsten wrote: | Hi Janna,
When you fetch somebody from the station you collect them from there. That means, you drive to the station, collect the person and you drive back home together.
Please, note the question:
What does fetch mean? |
Not sure where you want us to be on this one, Torsten. "Fetch" is polysemous, but you don't want to know that, right? |
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| Thu Apr 17, 2008 13:23 pm What does fetch mean? |
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Molly, in this thread we are trying to answer the question how the verb 'fetch' is used. Would you like to contribute anything to this discussion? You shouldn't be too worried about what I want to know since this thread isn't just about my personal opinion, it's about the usage of a verb.
So if do know something about how the verb 'fetch' is used, why don't you share this information with our forum users?
As for your question, I think your quoted Wikipedia definition of the term "American English" is very accurate and precise and I don't have anything to add to it. If you need a better definition you might want to ask Amy how she defines "American English" since she uses this term quite often and you can find it in her forum signature. Alternatively you can start a new thread about whether we need a new definition of the term and what that definition should look like. In addition, you might want to discuss the definitions of 'dialect', 'register' and 'style'.
By the way, why don't you tell us what you mean by "American English" in this post of yours?
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| Sat Apr 19, 2008 4:20 am What does fetch mean? |
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| Torsten wrote: | | What you have been trying to do is explain to us how a word is NOT used in your neck of the woods without defining where that might be. |
Well, Torsten, I think you must be aware that I in live the USA. I have lived and worked all over the northeast quarter of the country, have spent time in much of the rest of the US (partly because I have relatives from coast to coast), my sister-in-law is originally from Nova Scotia, and I have spent some time there as well as a few other places in Canada. I have friends from all over the US, but I don't have any close friends from Alaska or Hawaii. How's that? Is that information specific enough for you? I could tell you more, but I'm terribly afraid you might misquote or misinterpret it.
| Quote: | | Are there any special cases where I should not use "fetch" |
As I've already attempted to tell you (twice, I think), the question I responded to was the one above. Since the test question was about 'fetching someone from a bus station', what I chose to post seemed logical enough to me. Obviously, you have a major problem with my choice. I really don't know why that should be the case, though. I mean, it's not like my post was full of four-letter words.
| Torsten wrote: | | A user just wanted to know what 'fetch' means. |
I'm terribly sorry if you don't wish forum members to respond to questions that are not identical to the title of the thread or what the first question was. The most common meaning of the word 'fetch' has already been posted, so I don't see any point in typing out what will amount to the same thing again. Would you actually prefer to have a bunch of posts that are in essence carbon copies of each other? I would dare to suggest that is not actually what you want. I would suggest that what you actually don't like is a certain other thread in the Comments and Feedback forum.
| Torsten wrote: | | Molly, in this thread we are trying to answer the question how the verb 'fetch' is used. |
Oh, so it is acceptable to post something about usage when the original question was about meaning?
| Torsten wrote: | | Amy, please try to stay on the subject. |
What was the subject? 'Meaning' or 'usage'? First you said the the subject was meaning of the word 'fetch'. Later you asked about 'usage'. You also suggested starting a new thread. Was that the subject? Which is it? To be honest, I think the subject of your posts in this thread ought to be called 'Torsten's personal agenda'. I tried to stay on the subject of an exception in usage. You only seem to want to make that impossible to do.
| Torsten wrote: | | None of the sentences I quoted have anything to do with the long list of usages you posted. |
I wasn't aware that I'd posted a long list of usages. I didn't actually see any need to. I did post about something I see as a noticeable difference between the usage of the word fetch in the test sentence and what I hear being used on this side of the pond. I'm terribly sorry if that offended you somehow.
| Torsten wrote: | | I never have asked for them nor have I asked for dictionary definitions. |
Oh, but you have, Torsten! The idea of asking for dictionary definitions probably popped into my brain because you often seem to do just that when you post questions in some of your own threads. You sometimes post questions that I think should have been easy to research in a dictionary. That has been my impression for a while now.
| Torsten wrote: | | I have the impression that you are angry because an American writer uses a word differently than the folks in your 'neck of the woods'. |
Wrong impression, Torsten. I am even more convinced now that your most recent posts in this thread were not serious. Why the lack of interest in what Alan had to say? Why not even a tiny little bit of interest in other possible usages of 'fetch' in the UK or anywhere else? And why the complete lack of interest in my observation on Grisham's style? No, Torsten, your interest was clearly not in learning more about the word 'fetch'.
If you're dissatisfied with what I've posted about 'fetch', I'd suggest you read what others have posted, continue with your research, and by all means, fetch people from bus stations wherever and whenever you want. That's entirely up to you.
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| Sun Apr 27, 2008 12:43 pm What does fetch mean? |
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Hi everyone,
One intrinsic and synchronously perceptible reason for the word 'fetch' having no particular use in the US any more may be seen in their discovery of the even simpler and yet beautifully subtle word 'grab'.
'And make sure to grab a bottle of Harper's from the liquor store!"
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