Michael Business Law
Professional Teacher
have and take expressions Do these expressions sound odd to the ears of a US native-speaker: a) have a bath/shower b) have a break c) have a laugh On a) and b) I understand that using "take" is more common (also acceptable in the UK), but I wanted to know if "have" would also be acceptable to the average person. Thanks for your help.
Dec 1, 2016 9:48 AM
Answers · 22
1
Yes, they all sound "odd" to my American ears but perfectly acceptable/understandable. Just sounds like British English. I disagree with Jerry. I would not normally say "have a laugh." I would just say, for example, "it's great to laugh," or, "we all laughed over our silly mistake," or, "it was embarrassing, but we got a good laugh out of it."
December 1, 2016
1
Very odd and unnatural sounding to hear or even say with 'have', on A and B C is quite natural with 'have' We don't 'take a laugh' ( that's how this 'average' person sees it )
December 1, 2016
I agree that "take a decision" is normal in the UK. We also say "make a decision". The subtle difference is that "make" emphasises the mental formulation process and "take" emphasises the execution.
December 1, 2016
Quite so. Glad to hear that the Mrs is close by to keep your baser instincts in check.
December 1, 2016
I was going to mention the call of nature but my wife swatted down that idea ))
December 1, 2016
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