"to get something" and "for something"

Question

when should i use "to get something" and when should i use "for something"? in the following examples, can i use both for all of them?

I want to go to the bakery (to get some/for some) dessert.

I want to go to the barbershop (to get a/for a) haircut.

I want to go to the bookstore (to get a/for a) book.

I want to go to Europe (to get/for) vacation. I'm almost certain that I should always use 'for' here.

I think we usually use "to get something" for something that we can touch and take away with. and we use 'for' for services or something we cannot touch. There seems to be a slight difference between the two but i'm not sure what it is. Thanks.

Mr Wordy · Accepted Answer

"to get" and "for" are both OK in the first three. I can't really advise on the last because in British English we don't use "vacation" much (I would say "on holiday"). If I did use "vacation" I'd tend to say "on vacation" rather than "for vacation", but there are plenty of Google hits for "go for vacation". "to get a vacation" seems feasible.

I'm not sure that your general theory really stands up. If the sense is "physically fetch" then it seems to me that both "to get" and "for" will usually work equally well. In more abstract senses of "acquire", the first few examples I thought of all also allow either "to get" or"for": "I moved to London to get/for a better job", "I came here to get/for justice", "I'm going to the manager to get/for an apology", "I'm going out to get/for some exercise".

"to get something" and "for something"

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