Please Don't Grab!

Because English is my Second Language, ESL, I often make mistakes when I speak and write. I always have to proofread what I write and always the first draft is hideous, the second is marginal, the third is acceptable and... well, you get my point.

As a novice cook I like to browse the Internet for ideas and recipes and I watch certain TV shows and channels on a regular basis for the same reason. There are some TV personalities that use certain words and phrases over and over and over.

For example you can catch Guy Fiery say things like:

• out-of-the-park,
• mega-super,
• outta-bounds

If you watch Rachael Ray
you will notice that she uses the word grab constantly:

• she goes to the refrigerator to "grab some milk,"
• "I'll grab the spoon," etc.

I went to google.com and searched for the word grab within the rachaelray.com domain name. It's a little tricky but you have to go to google.com, enter the search term, the word grab in this case, then you will either press the search button or press the enter key for google to do the search. After google return the results, scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and click on the Advanced search link. In the Advance search options look for the site or domain area and enter the domain, rachaelray.com in my case, and press the Advanced Search button. Google will then go to rachaelray.com and return all pages containing the word grab. Google reported the word grab was found in 133 pages in rachaelray.com. Here are some links and excerpts:

• In www.rachaelray.com/food/collections/lwra/index.php?section=amazing
  

  "...snack to grab on the go or to throw into smoothies. When it's not in season, it's perfectly fine to grab a bag..."

  "...by grabbing bacteria and carrying..."

   
• Also in www.rachaelray.com/blogs/index.php/author/rosemary/page/10/
  

  "I would grab whatever I..."

  "I’d make toast, grab crackers, whatever was in sight..."

Then I listened to the the TV show The Pioneer Woman on the Food channel and she too "grabs" every chance she gets. I went to her website, thepioneerwoman.com, and there too she uses the word grab VERY often, much more than Rachael Ray. A google advanced search shows that grab appears in 5,250 pages! Wow! Pioneer Girl, slow down!



Here are some examples from her website, thepioneerwoman.com:

• In thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/04/barbecue-chicken/
  

  "...and instead of grabbing on..."

  "Most of the time, I still grab a bottle..."

  "Next, grab this stuff: ketchup, brown sugar..."

   
• In thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2013/03/beef-fajitas/
  

  "Grab your hunka beef and..."

  "I just grabbed some salsa and..."

  "It makes it appear very grabbable."

   
• In thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2013/04/my-moms-muffins/

"My mom makes muffins by grabbing..."

"Grab some ground flaxseed..."

"Then grab some walnuts..."

Then you have followers who comment on recipes:

"Love some grabbable divination"

 "Ree, go to…grab a bottle or two…"

Too many examples to list from the Pioneer Girl's website.

Even in non-celebrity people's blogs, I saw that the use of the word grab is used in many cooking blogs and websites except in the Grilling Greek's blog, of course. 

As an ESL person I was intrigued and I wanted to learn more about this word. So I went to thesaurus.com to find synonyms of this word. Here is what thesaurus.com reported as synonyms of the word grab:

capture, catch, catch hold of, clutch, collar, corral*, get one's fingers on, get one's hands on, glom, grapple, grasp, grip, hook, land, lay one's hands on, nab, nail, pluck, seize, snag, snap up, snatch, take, take hold of

Of course not all of these words could or should be used as replacements but here is one example that from Rachael Ray's website:

 Instead of "I’d make toast, grab crackers..." I would use "I’d make toast, take crackers..."

Nice! The Grilling Greek made a nice substitution. Here is another example taken from The Pioneer Girl's website:

 Instead of "Grab some ground flaxseed..." I would use use "Take hold of some ground flaxseed..."

I know, I know. My critics, and you know who you are, will comment and whine about my issues but I thought the over usage of the word grab has got to stop because it annoys me and I hope it annoys you too.

Having nothing better to do I contacted The Pioneer Woman, and Rachael Ray about this and I will report their responses here.

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