Give or Lend

paksu · Post by **paksu** » Sun May 30, 2004 12:24 am

Which is more appropriate to use of the idiom

1. Give me a hand
2. Lend me a hand

I am looking for most appropraite usage. The Dave ESLCAFE Idiom site specified the different usage of the two.

Thanks

Paksu

Andrew Patterson · Post by **Andrew Patterson** » Sun May 30, 2004 9:45 am

Which is more appropriate to use of the idiom

1. Give me a hand
2. Lend me a hand

I am looking for most appropraite usage. The Dave ESLCAFE Idiom site specified the different usage of the two.

If you rewrite this as,
1. "Give someone a hand," and
2. "Lend someone a hand,"

then Give has two uses, but lend only one. Both can be used as a polite way to ask for help. IMO, neither is more nor less appropiate in this case.

"Give someone a hand," can also be used to ask for aplause although this use is becoming less common these days, for instance an MC might say, "Give him/her a hand."

While not impossible, it would be rather crass for a performer to say, "Give me a hand," after finishing a performance.

I could perhaps imagine Steve Cougan's charactor "Alan Partridge" doing it, but that would be to show in a comical way how crass the request would be.

Andrew Patterson · Post by **Andrew Patterson** » Sun May 30, 2004 9:45 am

Which is more appropriate to use of the idiom

1. Give me a hand
2. Lend me a hand

I am looking for most appropraite usage. The Dave ESLCAFE Idiom site specified the different usage of the two.

If you rewrite this as,
1. "Give someone a hand," and
2. "Lend someone a hand,"

then Give has two uses, but lend only one. Both can be used as a polite way to ask for help. IMO, neither is more nor less appropiate in this case.

"Give someone a hand," can also be used to ask for aplause although this use is becoming less common these days, for instance an MC might say, "Give him/her a hand."

While not impossible, it would be rather crass for a performer to say, "Give me a hand," after finishing a performance.

I could perhaps imagine Steve Cougan's charactor "Alan Partridge" doing it, but that would be to show in a comical way how crass the request would be.