Go Away

When I was a child, I lived on a ranch, a place to raise animals for food. Sometimes I heard my father say, “Go on! Get!” He said, “Go on! Get!” because wild animals sometimes tried to eat the animals my father raised. He wanted the wild animals to go away, so he said, “Go on! Get!” very loudly to scare them.

A Specific Meaning

This story has an example of a very specific use of “get” as a main verb. We can only use this meaning in a specific way and in specific contexts. Keep reading to learn more about it.

“Get” = “Move/go”

Sometimes you have a reason to tell an animal or another person to go or move away from you. Maybe there is a lot of danger. Maybe the animal is wild, like the animals my father had to scare away. In these cases, English speakers will use the command “go on! Get!” Or we might just say “Get!” It just means “move away from here now.”

He wanted the wild animals to go away, so he said, “Go on! Get!” = He wanted the wild animals to go away, so he said, “Go on! Move/go away from here now!”

Special Note

This use of “get” is very informal. Do not tell your boss or colleague to “get!”

Your Turn

this meaning is a little more difficult to practice. But please try. Have you ever told someone or an animal to “get?” Leave a comment below to tell me about the situation. Do you have a command like this in your language? Leave another comment to tell me about how you use it.