student asking question

Can I actually say this phrase "I think you got my order wrong" at a restaurant? When what I got is not what I ordered?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

Yes, you can! The word "get" here is used in one of its less common meanings. "To get" has close to ten different meanings, but in this context, we're looking at only one of them - to understand. There are two ways to form the negative: "get wrong" or "do not get". In the case of a restaurant order, we would use the first one ("get wrong") to say that the wrong thing was served. If we say "they didn't get my order" it would mean that they didn't bring anything at all. Ex: I keep failing at the math test. I always get the questions wrong. Ex: I don't get it. Could you explain that again? Ex: They didn't get my order, but at least they didn't get my order wrong.

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