Has always meant to me: to have someone's dedication or devotion.
Not to own or control someone in any way, nor even to have any pretense of it.
werds
@davebutton Indeed.
As in, "My" : Father Employer Doctor Country God
There is no implied "ownership" , just a "relationship" of some sort. One might even historically have said, "My slave-master".
To have someone can also mean to have sex with them, e.g. "She had him in the back seat."
Not to get anyone going or anything.
Note also that the whole idea of "mine" can be a bit confusing.
For instance, "my book" is mine, and nobody else is touching it because, dang it, it's mine. "My country," on the other hand... well, I just live here because this is where I happen to have been born, and I don't care enough to move. Even if I had the resources.
"My master" is more like "my country" than it is like "my book," I think. Not exactly like, though. I wouldn't say my country owns me any more than I own it.
I just live here.
@littermate I'll never be able to say "I have a cat" in the same way again. Thanks...🙃
@littermate Too late. The game's afoot. 😀
I think it's a Budweiser commercial, where a mafia-sounding lizard says, "Take him out, and I dont mean ; to the movies".
In 1953, Derek Bentley was hanged for telling his gun-toting crime partner, "Let him have it" ; the jury decided this was an instruction to shoot the policeman, but it was later agreed that he meant "hand over the weapon".
In India, a British officer instructed a local soldier to intercept an escaping enemy prisoner via a short cut, using the phrase "Head him off", and was upset and surprised when the soldier returned ; with just the man's head.
So many words and phrases can be interpreted to be exactly the opposite. My favourite is "The alarm went off" ; which can mean it started, or stopped. Next is the pharmacy sign, "We dispense with accuracy".
I can't go without mentioning UK politician Jeffrey Archer, who said repeatedly that he hadn't "slept with" a particular sex worker ; and the press were kind enough to agree this was probably true, given her hourly rate it's very unlikely he wasted any time doing that.
@creedhands - hahahaha! Chuckling.
@geoff1000 I know. We've got to have a little fun since we can't really cuddle. Sexual inuendo is the next best thing.
@littermate Best summed up as : "A friend asked me for an example of sexual innuendo, so I gave her one". 😀
Apparently the extras in the original "Dirty Dancing" movie were prohibited from "socialising" off-set, so that the on-set routines would be, "hotter".
People at work talk about their office , their computer, their desk etc. I just laugh to myself cus none of it belongs to us, it belongs to the company, we just work there
@pmvines - We're renting it from the company. It's ours and nobody else can use it until we quit.
@Mike403 I suppose they deduct the rent from your paycheck then lol
@pmvines - They probably do. I work for home, so I have the company equipment at my house.
Ah gotcha that is certainly different than sharing a cubicle
@pmvines - When I worked in the office, I didn't share a cubicle with anyone. We all had our own cubicles.
We started working from home since March which was supposed to be just during the pandemic, but they sent an email yesterday saying working from home is going to be permanent.
If the US Military can fly drones from Nevada ; why can't a tower crane operator work from the ground, or even from home ?
I suspect that Mars exploration will include astronauts staying in Mars orbit, from where they can control devices on the surface in real-time instead of with a round-trip signal lag of 8 to 48 minutes.
@geoff1000 - Then they might as well just land on Mars and skip the robots. The challenge is getting humans to make that long journey there.
@Mike403 It's a big effort to get off the surface and into orbit. Imagine if the Lunar Module had been as big as the Space Shuttle. Mars has gravity between Earth and The Moon, so it wouldn't be that bad, but still a lot harder.
Having said that, they could probably leave most of the return craft in orbit, like the Apollo Command & Service Module flown by Michael Collins ; so all that comes up from the surface, is the astronauts and cargo.
The main issue though, is safety ; landing and taking off are the most dangerous times of any flight, and "The Martian" movie reminds us that we don't like to leave people behind. Technology helps us keep people out of harm's way, as well as saving on the effort of commuting. Creech Air Force Base doesn't just save USAF the cost of flying its pilots into theater, no US President has ever written a letter of condolence to the grieving parents of a drone. 😀
Anyway, that's just my prediction.
I agree. I've always thought of it as meaning to have someone to rely on, and their friendship and support.
@FlyingToaster same here, as in "to have someone in your life" kind of thing.
Also sort of related to the fact we don't own things in our workspaces, we often don't own the accounts for online games we've technically bought. We're just paying for the ability to use them, and the companies owning the games can do whatever they want with those accounts pretty much.
@Zundar Some "have's" are negative.
If I "have" a hole in my sock, I am actually missing threads in that place. If I "have" a thirst, it means I am short of water. If I "have" writer's block, I am missing ideas to put on paper.
If I "have" a tapeworm, the tapeworm can think, "I have a host" ; but we are differently happy about it.
@davebutton and everyone else👍🏽
What is your perspective on marriage in regards to having someone?
Sorry I haven't read the other replies...
@lovelyhugs Marriage just means someone has devotion for you officially through the government 😆
Marriage is a "contract of business" recorded by the state. The witnesses have the same role as the witness to a will, or home purchase contract. It is similar to an employment contract, with both parties having a responsibility to each other, except that it is intended to be permanent.
It was probably originally intended so that : the man was committed to supporting the woman's children, knowing that he was the father. With child support laws and DNA testing, it's probably more of a traditional activity ; like the British monarchy.
@davebutton @geoff1000 I personally use the words “have” and “my” in the exact way you describe in the two starting posts of this thread. It’s great to see some perspective on this phenomenon of the English language from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
I'm going to call The Milky Way, "my galaxy" and charge everyone rent.