# Strange Use of "Took" to Mean "Gave"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-use-of-took-to-mean-gave/710807
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 25, 2015, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-use-of-took-to-mean-gave/710807 "2015-01-25T00:42:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@BobArrgh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobArrgh)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2015, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-use-of-took-to-mean-gave/710807/1 "2015-01-25T00:42:45Z")
A friend of mine knows a native English speaker (USA) who uses “took” where standard usage would seem to indicate “gave”. This is an actual statement from this person, both in verbal and written format: “I took the baby a bath”.
Is this common in some parts of the USA?
(For the purpose of this discussion, assume that the speaker did not put water into a portable tub and carried it over to the baby. I believe the baby would have been bathed in the tub in the bathroom, so the child would have been taken to the bathroom for the bath.)
I’m not familiar with it. I told him it almost sounded like it was based on Pennsylvania Dutch phrasing, such as, “I threw my cow over the fence some hay”, but he said he believes the person is not from the northeast. As far as he knows, the speaker is not a recent immigrant, and was born and raised in the USA.
I told him I would put it to the wisdom of Dopers to determine if this was a common usage pattern.
Mods, I put this in GQ thinking that there might be an actual answer. If you think it should be in IMHO or another forum, please, whisk it away.
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2015, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-use-of-took-to-mean-gave/710807/2 "2015-01-25T00:51:14Z")
In the phrase provided, it sounds like the bath was being brought to the baby. I seem to recall a similar expression, but I could not say where I heard it.
Alternatively, it could have simply been someone stumbling over the expression “took a bath,” exchanging the actor and the acted upon in a one-time mix-up.
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2015, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-use-of-took-to-mean-gave/710807/3 "2015-01-25T09:31:48Z")
We use the phrase “take a shit” when “give a shit” might actually make more sense, and “give a shit” to mean “give a damn”.
And anyway, when we “take a bath” or “take a shower”, we aren’t actually taking the bath or shower some place that it isn’t already. The bath or shower stays right there in the tub where it started. It’s all very goofy.
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### Author:  [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2015, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-use-of-took-to-mean-gave/710807/4 "2015-01-25T10:06:39Z")
Here’s someone who claims it’s the influence of Spanish:
[http://www.useranswers.com/topics/view/why-people-say-take-him-a-bath-1603796.html](http://www.useranswers.com/topics/view/why-people-say-take-him-a-bath-1603796.html)
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### Author:  [@BobArrgh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobArrgh)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2015, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-use-of-took-to-mean-gave/710807/5 "2015-01-26T02:23:19Z")
Interesting link, **Wendell Wagner** , thanks. However, I don’t think the speaker is of Hispanic descent, but, it could be a possibility.
When he first told me about it, I thought it might be a simple conflating of two statements: “The baby took a bath” and “I gave the baby a bath”. However, my friend said the speaker has said it 8 times, both verbally and written.
Thanks for the feedback. Any others?
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### Author:  [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2015, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-use-of-took-to-mean-gave/710807/6 "2015-01-26T03:18:18Z")
“Learn” is used to mean “teach” in some dialects. “I’ll learn my kids the three Rs, no need for schooling.”
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### Author:  [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2015, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-use-of-took-to-mean-gave/710807/7 "2015-01-26T03:19:48Z")
> [@Senegoid](#):
>
> We use the phrase “take a shit” when “give a shit” might actually make more sense…
Old George Carlin: “Take a shit? Well, don’t take the one I _left_!”
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### Author:  [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2015, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-use-of-took-to-mean-gave/710807/8 "2015-01-26T03:40:24Z")
“US English” is not one uniform thing. if it was, we wouldn’t have things like “warsh” (wash) or the Pittsburghese dropping of “to be” (e.g. “the car needs washed.”)
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### Author:  [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2015, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-use-of-took-to-mean-gave/710807/9 "2015-01-26T03:50:57Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#):
>
> Here’s someone who claims it’s the influence of Spanish:
>
> [http://www.useranswers.com/topics/view/why-people-say-take-him-a-bath-1603796.html](http://www.useranswers.com/topics/view/why-people-say-take-him-a-bath-1603796.html)
In middle school Spanish class we were all confused by how in Spanish you usually say, “I took breakfast” or “I took lunch”. Our Spanish teacher used the example of how in English you say, “I had breakfast” etc. He said, “You had it? What did you do with it? Take it for a walk?!”
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2015, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-use-of-took-to-mean-gave/710807/10 "2015-01-26T14:42:46Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#):
>
> In middle school Spanish class we were all confused by how in Spanish you usually say, “I took breakfast” or “I took lunch”. Our Spanish teacher used the example of how in English you say, “I had breakfast” etc. He said, “You had it? What did you do with it? Take it for a walk?!”
Hijack:
Along these lines I’ve always wondered why we say someone “had” a baby. “Jane’s having a baby.”
It has always sounded to me like English settled on the wrong word. She’s making a baby, or birthed a baby, or grew a baby or …
But not have/had a baby. That’s just wrong. Anyone else agree with my point?
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2015, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-use-of-took-to-mean-gave/710807/11 "2015-01-26T14:53:31Z")
A peculiarity I noticed in the Midwest US was saying ‘bring’ where most would say ‘take’, such as “Bring this to your father”. My ex (from MN) said it all the time. Most people say ‘take’ when the action is away from them, and ‘bring’ when the action is coming to them.
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### Author:  [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2015, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-use-of-took-to-mean-gave/710807/12 "2015-01-26T14:56:49Z")
Is “I took the baby a bath” the only instance you know of where it’s used that way or does that person use it that way for other things?
People say things like “I took a bath” which isn’t unusual, but “I took the baby a bath” is not a usage I’ve heard before (assuming, as the OP does, that the bath wasn’t carried to the baby).
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### Author:  [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2015, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-use-of-took-to-mean-gave/710807/13 "2015-01-27T03:21:34Z")
“I took the baby a bath” sounds like it was directly translated from some other language where the bath/shower is the object of an active verb (Japanese comes to mind immediately. I have a hard time imagining a native English speaker saying that.