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I live in Japan and have noticed that a lot Japanese people are prone to say/write "I spent a good time with my friends/family/kids." It has always rubbed me the wrong way, and when I can, I usually explain that "I HAD a good time with..." is the proper expression. Google ngram confirmed my belief that it's weird and/or grammatically incorrect, as the usage of "spend a good time" doesn't exist. But on the other hand, it seems perfectly normal to say "I spent a long time / a lot of time with..." So my question is, is there a grammatical explanation for this, or is it just one of the many weird quirks of English?

TFlo83
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    It's a rule of logic, not an idiosyncrasy. Spend is how you pay out money, effort, time. So you can spend the day, spend a morning, spend a long time. But a good time is not a period of time to pay out, it's a judgment of what that time felt like to have, to show someone, to miss. – Yosef Baskin Feb 11 '24 at 05:18
  • Excellent explanation. Thanks! – TFlo83 Feb 11 '24 at 05:45
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    See the sadly missed Professor Lawler's explanation of the 'time is money' metaphor at single word for time spent? and link. A 'conceptual' (and prevalent, 'conventional') metaphor. "I've earned a break." 'Paying back one's debt to society by 80 hours of community service.' – Edwin Ashworth Feb 11 '24 at 16:23

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