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What is the difference between these two words in the following examples:

  1. Why don't you get your hair cut?

  2. Why don't you have your hair cut?

tchrist
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dgr379
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    Technically, that's an unanswered question, since there are no votes oforn either answer. This is a reasonable question. – John Lawler Feb 21 '15 at 21:07

1 Answers1

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In the case of a haircut there's no difference. But, e.g., "get the roof fixed" might mean you're going to fix it yourself, while "have the roof fixed" definitely means 'fixed by someone else'.

David Garner
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  • I think "definitely" is too strong. Consider "You better have the roof fixed when I get back!". – Yossarian Feb 21 '15 at 21:47
  • Fair comment, Yossarian! I withdraw the 'definitely'. – David Garner Feb 22 '15 at 09:52
  • @Yossarian. I realized later that there's a link between this question and one I posed on the Linguistics site [How did the same perfect-tense structure become so widespread in Europe?] "You better have the roof fixed" = "You better see that the roof becomes fixed [by whomever]". While "You better have fixed the roof" is a perfect-tense construction. – David Garner Feb 24 '15 at 17:31