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Bring and buy

When I was young, a popular fund-raiser was the "bring and buy" sale. The idea was that some items of arts and crafts would be brought to an event and donated, while the same people would buy those things brought by others for a suitable price, the whole of the proceeds going to some worthy cause.
Mrs. Henderson always brought along some meringues, which my mother said were over-cooked, because they were often slightly brown instead of white, but they were the only meringues I ever had until much later in life. As adults, my wife and I moved to New Zealand. One of the main reasons for doing so was pavlova: similar to but greatly superior to meringue.
However, that's not what I should be talking about here: it's easy to get the right word if you stick to the present tense: bring or buy; on the other hand, there are so many people who can't tell the right one in the past tense: brought or bought.
It's conusing because if you bought something, you probably brought it home afterwards, but it still catches people out. After a hard day of shopping, you probably brought your children home: it is unlikely that you bought them. However, if you bought them an ice-cream they may have brought that home.
Be careful which word you use: you are probably not doing anything wrong when you talk about what you brought, but it is quite possible that it isn't what you meant.
Bring and buy sales seem to have been replaced by sausage sizzles and garage sales, but there is still nothing to touch a good pavlova.
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