Good to go

Go is American ( sigh) for take away, or picnic food. So Good to Go is food you can eat immediately. I believe !

Good rhymes with food in certain accents but not in RP. I am an anglicised Scot and still have trouble separating my "oo" sounds, as I can manage very well with only one. Only recently I remarked that my coat had a "good hood" and wasn't sure if they should rhyme or not (I think yes?). That's why the Coop used a Scots voice to declare in their adverts that they were "good with food".

To me, good to go means it's ready now. It doesn't have to apply to food - if a person is all dressed and ready to go out, they are "good to go".

Stella I m with you that’s how I ve heard it used It just means ready

And I accept, albeit reluctantly, that food or drink "to go" means to take away, or "carry oot" as the Scots say.

Thank you. I'm sure you are right that it's American. The 'good' we have discussed before as in "How are you?" "Answer: "I'm good". I always feel I want to say "I'm not enquiring about your morals, just your health".

Odd though that we have one perfectly adequate word, i.e. 'ready' and need to replace it with three.

grannyticktock a "carry oot" in Scotland has nothing to do with food.

????

People use it because it sounds less grotty than getting Take Away its the same thing just sounds less shameful and dirty Lol

"Shall we get some food to go" sounds less grim than "lets get a take away" even though its essentially the same thing, just poshified.

"carry oot" in Scotland has nothing to do with food

Really Do tell, what is it?

Because that's what my Scottish born and raised niece and nephew have always called what we would call a 'takeaway'...

In Glasgow there used to be a pub called the Kerry Inn. The off-license next door was called the Kerry Oot!

Reading the op I was puzzled because good does rhyme with food. How "should" it sound?

Yeah a carry out is booze not food. Not just in Scotland.

I also hate it when people say "I'm good" when they've been asked how they are.

"Can I get..." is another one.
"you guys.."

don't get me started

Me: Hi. A cappuccino with almond milk please.
Barista: OK. Hi how are you today? Here or to go?
Me: Good thanks. How are you? Here please.
Barista: Good thanks. Enjoy your coffee Ma'am.
(North America)

In English English, mcem, the double o in food is a longer sound than the double o in good.

My form mistress in my first year at secondary school was from Aberdeen. I was at school in Lancashire. One of the first things she told us first formers was that we should not leave food in the bootroom. I remember noticing that the way she said food and boot were different from how I was used to hearing them said.

When she asked us where we were from (can,t remember why) I told her in my best Yorkshire accent that I came from Poodsey, weir watter flows up t'ill and doocks fly back'ards to keep soot aart o their een. She asked me to kaindly speak Englesh.

Accents vary. I'm sure you know this.

Ee 'eck lass. Baggs, thee made me smile. I went to school in Wakefield.

mcem, in Hampshire where I live 'good (gud)' rhymes with 'hood (hud'). 'Food (fu:d)' rhymes with 'rude (ru:d). I am sure there are regional variations. But if you had to teach a non-English speaker how to pronounce these words I believe that is how they would sound.

Interestingly, we still tend to call it a takeaway even when it's delivered, while "to go" seems to be reserved for food you collect yourself or pick off a shelf. Scots seem to disagree on whether they'd call takeaway fish-and-chips a carry-oot, but I don't think they would use this for a delivered "takeaway".

I don't really get why anyone would want a coffee "to go". For me, the whole point of a coffee is that I can stop and take a break while I drink it. I hate to see drivers at servicestations getting into their cars and setting off sipping a beaker of scalding coffee, it can't be safe.

I love to invoke my inner Lady Bracknell when I am asked in food outlets if I want my coffee' to go'. In a loud voice I reply 'YES PLEASE. I would like to take it with me!!' .
My other favourite thing is to follow some one who has said 'can I get?' to the assistant/barista(!) ' PLEASE may I have?' in an even louder voice.

I agree that in my childhood in Scotland a carry oot was definitely alchohol from either the pub or perhaps a licensed grocer, but I think now most Scots use the expression for "takeaway food" too, certainly they did in Edinburgh when we were there a few years ago.

But yes, "to go" in this sense is yet another Americanism.

It struck me the other day, that you can say," leave go" meaning "take your hands off" someone or something.
This is a completely different usage of "go" than any other I can think of in English.

Can anyone contribute other odd expressions with "go"?

Carry out is certainly used for takeaways in Northern Ireland

There's also, "Can I have a go?" meaning a turn.

Yes, *grannyticktock^, 'go' can also be a noun:

from the word go
give it a go
at a go