I do not like the word “get.” But it’s so versatile, you might say, and that is true. In fact, Google’s dictionary lists something like 32 different definitions of this verb. That’s a lot of definitions. But wait! Doesn’t that mean that we have replaced 32 different, possibly more interesting words with the word “get?” Oh right, it does. So this word has become so versatile because us English speakers are lazy fuckers. And you can’t be offended because I included me in it when I said “us.” Because I said so.
“Get” is like the linguistic version of the remote control or perhaps the iPad is a better example. It does everything and so we’ll continue to be lazy until, one day, the thing is so engrained in our society that we can’t even remember what it was like before we relied on it to do everything. Did that point in time ever exist?
Even if I didn’t prefer to use words like understand, receive, become, have, fetch or come in place of “get,” because it sounds more eloquent, the word itself just sounds trashy. Get. It’s a word that sounds rude and disrespectful even when you try to be respectful. Plus, on paper or screen, it just doesn’t look aesthetically pleasing (yes I am the type of person who looks for that sort of thing).
But you know what really gets me? That I know, as much as I despise the word, I use it more than I have a right to. Argh!