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Joined: Sep 2004
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journeyman
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When it comes to lunch time, what should I say to the people around me to ask them to have lunch together:

"Let's go to lunch" or "Let's go for lunch"?

My first thought is the former.

But I also see some using the latter. Is the latter right too? Or grammtically right but not very usually used?


Do inform me if you see any corrections needed in my written English.
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Carpal Tunnel
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either works for me, though it's breakfast time for me. :¬ )

I have heard, and use both, probably fairly equally.


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old hand
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And this matters, why? Either. Anything but "let's do lunch" sounds fine to me.

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Kevin Kline (Otto) smiling to angel fish called Wanda : "Hello lunch".

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Pooh-Bah
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One may also catch or grab a bite


dalehileman
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Zed Offline
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To me let's go to lunch feels more formal and implies that the food is prepared and waiting. For lunch is looser, merely meaning that it is the middle of the day and I want food whether I plan to buy it, make it or open my lunch box.

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I'd say "go to lunch" implied that the whole group was going out to eat lunch. "Go for lunch" would also have the possibility that one person was going to go out and pick up lunch, bringing it back for everyone to eat.

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old hand
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Other possibilities would include "let's have lunch" or "time for lunch" or just "lunchtime!"

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stranger
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My colleagues and I would usually go to lunch together. Sometimes we would eat in, and one of us would go for lunch. Other times we would all bring our lunch from home. On those occasions we would sit around the conference table and discuss what we were having for lunch. On particularly harrowing days, lunchtime would arrive not a moment too soon, and someone would announce "Lunch" at the stroke of noon leading to a race for the door. Maybe they thought we said "Lunge!"

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addict
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As Steffani implies, at work, I can use the word "lunch" to mean either the midday break time or a meal or both. "To lunch", IMO, implies taking the break with the possibility of having the meal while "for lunch" implies having the meal. To take the break for the reason of a meal, perhaps?
In other words, if I say "I'm going to lunch now", you should not assume that I've eaten when I get back, but if I say "I'm going for lunch", you know that food is my purpose.

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