This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2540, Grab or Get?
English Vocabulary for Errands.
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Hello, Aubrey, how's it going today?
I'm great, Lindsay.
I have a question.
Yeah.
Do you have any errands you need to run today?
Oh, errands I need to run.
I need to get more coffee.
I'm out of coffee and I don't like waking up without coffee.
So that's what I need to do.
Yes.
You got to grab some coffee while you're out.
Grab some coffee.
I have so many things I need to buy and I need to return something, an Amazon purchase.
So I need to get that done.
I have a few errands, but...
I intentionally was asking you something to try and use all of the ways we say buy or grab or get right.
There's a lot of different ways we say this.
This is going to be interesting today.
Really interesting.
We don't say buy that often.
We use all these other words for it.
So casual ways of saying buy, right?
If you say, buy all the time, you're going to sound like a textbook, and we are not here to sound like a textbook.
Exactly.
Yes.
But we also want to give a shout out to one of our listeners, Carlos Eduardo Starling, who emailed and let us know that he was in our top 05 of All Ears English listeners on his Spotify wrapped.
I hope you guys are checking out your Spotify wrapped.
That's always fun to see.
I know, not 5%, 0.5%.
Isn't that amazing?
That is such a tiny number.
So one of our top, top listeners, huge shout out to Carlos Eduardo Starling.
Thank you for being an amazing listener.
And let us know, guys, send us an email.
We'll try to announce your name on the show if we can.
But yeah, we just want to hear from you guys.
We love getting emails from our listeners, Aubrey.
Yes, absolutely.
And this really.
We have a lot of super listeners who listen to every episode.
Go back and listen to the archives.
And you are, you're probably in our top 1% or 0.5%.
So shout out to all the super listeners out there.
Yeah, huge shout out.
All right.
So there are essentially three really good ways to say bye, but not sound like a textbook.
So what's the first one, Aubrey?
Yes.
So the first one is grab.
I probably use this the most.
I'll say, can you go to the store and grab milk?
And I rarely will say, can you go buy milk at the store?
Instead, I'm going to say, can you grab milk while you're out?
Yeah, it's true.
It's funny how we just throw out that verb and we just use other things instead.
Or I need to grab flour and sugar at the store.
So it's just indicating you're going to quickly, there's a casualness here.
There's a speed, a fast paced life, right?
Right.
Because you absolutely can say I need to buy flour and sugar at the store.
But it is a little more formal, a little more put together, right?
When we're being conversational, when we're speaking quickly, we are more likely to say something like grab.
Oh, can you grab that while you're out?
And I'm also.
If I'm asking someone to do a favor and get something for me while they're out, I'm going to use something like this to make it seem like It's easier.
It's no big deal, right?
Oh, just grab it while you're out, right?
Yeah.
You want to reduce the burden or what feels, even though they're actually doing the thing.
So it's emphasized that it's very easy for them to do it, right?
Exactly.
And the same goes for the next one, pick up.
That's also something that might indicate that it's less of a big deal, right?
Totally.
Yeah.
So for example, I'm giving him a ride to the shop so he can pick up his car.
Right.
So he can pick up his car or I need to pick up my grocery order.
I hear this a lot.
People are saying this.
Do you shop for groceries online and then pick them up, Lindsay?
People are doing that more and more and I never think to.
Interesting.
I would have thought that that would be not a thing anymore after the pandemic, but no, I don't.
It's getting more and more.
So many people have told me, even this week, they're like, I never go inside a grocery store.
I just make my order online and then I go pick it up.
They bring it out to me.
And when I'm in a grocery store, I see all of these orders getting filled.
I'm like, I'm the only person here that doesn't work here getting my own groceries.
Yeah, the call ahead thing actually makes sense when it comes to like Starbucks or I know you go to the airport and you're competing with all these call ahead orders that people have ordered in to come and pick up their coffee.
And it's sort of like hmm, maybe the strategic thing to do here is actually call ahead and order in.
There's a lot of time-saving things that I'm not taking advantage of that I probably should be.
I know.
But yes, for lots of things that you could pick up, yeah, there's things you could do.
Or...
If you are asking someone else to pick something up for you again.
Like you said Lindsay, this is the same as grab, where you're making it.
You're implying that it would be pretty quick and easy.
Yeah.
Can you pick that up for me?
Yeah.
You got instead of like, can you buy this for me while you're out?
Yeah, that does.
It's remarkable how that changes the tone of what you're asking someone to do.
It feels like a much bigger deal.
Can you buy some milk versus can you pick up some milk on the way home?
Right.
It's amazing.
He asked me to buy some.
I'm like, well, I don't know if I have time.
Yeah.
What are you asking for a lifelong commitment here?
Exactly.
Whereas grab some milk.
Sure.
I can grab some milk.
I can pick up some milk while I'm out.
The way to get a yes is that use the word pick up.
Last one is get right.
I need to get some apples while I'm at the store.
Right.
So essentially, it, of course, means buy because you're not going to Not pay for the apples.
All of these mean buy.
Pick up is the like you could pick up for something else that you know pay for in advance or someone else has paid for.
But like get grab in these a lot of these examples.
We mean buy.
Exactly.
What's another example?
Or can you get eggs while you're at the store?
And same thing, which means like, yeah, can you buy them?
But what's interesting, I was thinking of all these different examples because certain verbs...
We're more likely to use for specific things.
Like, for example, we wouldn't say grab when we're talking about going to the pharmacy and picking up a prescription.
Right.
I need to pick up my prescription from the pharmacy or I need to get my prescription.
I wouldn't say I need to grab my prescription while I'm there.
It's really interesting how this is something to definitely listen for as you are taking.
In English, which types of things do we say grab and get and pick up, because often you know native English speakers will choose one or the other for certain things.
Yeah.
And especially this next one is really a chunk.
Right.
I need to get gas while I'm out.
So I would not say pick up gas and I wouldn't say grab gas.
I would never say those two.
I feel very strongly about this.
It is get gas.
I agree.
And it's really interesting.
So this means to fill up your tank with gas.
But I never hear anyone say, oh, I need to grab gas.
I need to get gas while I'm out.
That's interesting.
Well, I mean, not pick up.
We wouldn't say pick up.
No.
So, yeah, this is I think it's part of it's like the action of filling your tank.
You can't just pick something up.
You can't grab something.
Whereas all of these other things we're saying, can you buy that?
But it's something you could physically grab.
Yeah.
Just pick up for sure.
So get gas.
So just kind of memorize that chunk, guys, and you will be good to go.
What else do we need to know?
Yeah, we want to point out when you search synonyms for get, there are so many.
And even there are so many that have very similar meanings, but we don't use them really for errands and shopping because it's so conversational.
It's so casual when we're saying these things.
So these three that we talked about today, we do use.
But a lot of the ones you'll see in like a thesaurus, maybe obtain or acquire much too formal for these conversations.
And then there are even some that are less formal, that we wouldn't use for errands like fetch or snag something.
That is more for like, maybe I need to fetch my jacket from the car.
But we wouldn't say I need to fetch milk from the store, or at least not in my regional dialect.
What do you think, Lindsay?
Yeah, when I think of the word fetch, I just think of a dog.
So I struggle with the word fetch.
I do hear it for like grabbing maybe my phone or a jacket, but I wouldn't use this asking someone to grab something from the store.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, I totally agree with that.
I also think it might be a little more potentially more British to use the word fetch.
I feel like I've heard it from different accents.
And snag is just kind of...
I don't know, a little more slangy, isn't it?
Yeah, it's definitely slang.
I hear people say like, oh, I snagged the last seat on the plane.
But I wouldn't say, can you snag me some milk at the store, right?
It's more, it kind of has this implication of like being lucky to get something.
Oh, I snagged tickets for this concert.
Exactly, exactly.
You received some kind of like good card or something and you were lucky to get something.
There is like a special deal there, right?
Right.
And this is where you can't really just trust AI or a thesaurus to get a list of words that mean the same thing as get, because they're all sort of used in these specific contexts.
So listen for which ones are used when.
But these three we shared today can always be used for errands, for picking up groceries, for grabbing something quick at the store.
Yeah, really good stuff.
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Okay, Aubrey, let's put it all into action.
We know our listeners love our role plays.
So here we're college roommates, right?
Yeah, I'll start us.
Hey, I'm heading out to run a few errands.
Need anything while I'm out?
Oh, perfect.
Can you grab some coffee filters from the store?
I used the last one this morning.
Sure, no problem.
I'm also going to pick up some cleaning spray.
We're almost out.
Oh, thanks.
Could you get some milk too?
Yep, will do.
Text me if you think of anything else I should grab while I'm out.
Okay.
Yes.
A lot of grabbing, getting, and picking up here, right?
No use of the word buy.
No buy.
It should be seen anywhere.
No, no, no, no.
Absolutely.
So you said, need anything while I'm out?
And I said, oh, perfect.
Can you grab some coffee filters from the store?
And again, it's downplaying the imposition, right?
Right.
And in this case especially, where I've already told you I'm going to be at the store, I'm.
What do you need?
It almost would be strange for you to say, can you buy some coffee filters?
Because you know I'm going to be at the store.
You know I'm going to buy anything I get, anything I grab.
So it's almost redundant.
It's like you're implying that I might not.
Can you make sure you buy them?
Of course I'm going to buy them.
So it's sort of unnecessary.
Yeah, absolutely.
And then what did you say, Aubrey?
And then I said, I'm also going to pick up some cleaning spray.
And so same thing.
Anything you would grab off a shelf you know that you're going to buy, we would say grab or pick up.
Yep.
Yep.
A lot of grabs to pick up.
And then I said, could you get milk too?
I think get might be the most common of all three of these two.
Definitely.
Yeah.
And this is the kind of thing get is so common in the English language.
You could probably just say it over and over and no one's going to be like man she's saying get a lot.
You really could hear it all the time and don't even notice.
Yeah, it's everywhere.
And then you said, yep, we'll do text me if you think of anything else I should grab while I'm out.
Yep.
So very typical conversation where all three of these verbs would be used.
Exactly.
And they're all interchangeable here.
At the end could say I should get while I'm out.
I should pick up while I'm out.
So all three of those.
And we're talking about quick errands, things we need to just quickly grab.
You can use all three of these.
Yeah, I love how simple this episode is, but so incredibly useful for our listeners, right?
Yes, absolutely.
I agree.
You're going to hear these everywhere.
Use them.
It's such a slight nuance to say one of these instead of buy.
But if it's understood, you're going to be at a store buying things.
You would use one of these instead.
Yeah, exactly.
Guys, go to 2536, how to be better than decent at English vocabulary.
And that was the one that Aubrey and Michelle recorded together.
So go and check that out for a fun time.
And yeah, I mean, I think that's the point.
We always want to be looking for ways to sound less bookish, like less textbookish.
Like we've learned real English that's actually in use, right?
This is one of the ways.
Exactly.
Right.
Using these three verbs instead of by really gets you there.
You don't no longer sound like a book or an English lesson.
You sound like just a very natural person who like, has heard a lot of English and knows which verb to use.
Exactly.
Then we start to think about what is the feeling behind what we're saying to someone that we want to convey, not just getting the literal meaning across.
How do we want it to feel when we ask our partner to get some milk or to pick up some milk, right?
Right.
We want it to seem like it's not an imposition.
So easy.
It would be very quick to do this.
Exactly.
Exactly.
That's the craftiness of the whole thing.
All right.
Good stuff.
Aubrey, we'll see you very soon.
You have a good rest of your day.
All right.
You too.
See you next time.
Bye.
Bye.
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