I'm Not "At" Anywhere
G Procter
Another form of this is "where's it at?" I first heard these
expressions in Southern New Jersey and now in Dallas.
Thanks,
Greg
"where that creationary website at?"
Rushtown
><HTML><PRE>Subject: I'm Not "At" Anywhere
>From: G Procter <gmpr...@prodigy.net>
>Date: Thu, Sep 24, 1998 23:52 EDT
>Message-id: <360B139...@prodigy.net>
>
>I think the phrase "where you at?" is wrong but I'm not sure why.
>Another form of this is "where's it at?" I first heard these
>expressions in Southern New Jersey and now in Dallas.
The "at" is not needed. The phrases
are fine as "Where (are) you", and "Where
is it" without the at.
babydoll
Rushtown wrote:
i heard some american exchange students asking "where's the bank at?"
the other day. aussie folk would simply query "where's the bank?". i
guess this is an example of grammatical variations between dialects...
--
"life's a bitch; now so am i" - catwoman
http://welcome.to/planet.babydoll
Perchprism
babydoll wrote:
>From: babydoll <baby...@tig.com.au>
>Date: 9/25/98 4:41 AM Eastern Daylight Time
>Message-id: <360B5751...@tig.com.au>
>
>
>
>Rushtown wrote:
>
>> >Subject: I'm Not "At" Anywhere
>> >From: G Procter <gmpr...@prodigy.net>
>> >Date: Thu, Sep 24, 1998 23:52 EDT
>> >Message-id: <360B139...@prodigy.net>
>> >
>> >I think the phrase "where you at?" is wrong but I'm not sure why.
>> >Another form of this is "where's it at?" I first heard these
>> >expressions in Southern New Jersey and now in Dallas.
>>
>> The "at" is not needed. The phrases
>> are fine as "Where (are) you", and "Where
>> is it" without the at.
>
>i heard some american exchange students asking "where's the bank at?"
>the other day. aussie folk would simply query "where's the bank?". i
>guess this is an example of grammatical variations between dialects...
Yes, and, as always, there is method in it opaque to outsiders. Being from
South Jersey, I'll try to give an analysis although I've never thought it
through before.
There are cases where "Where is X" is often not followed by "at." For example,
"Where is Bhutan?" "Where is Iowa?"A place can't be "at" a place because it is
a place. If you wanted to stress puzzlement, though, you might say, "Where is
Tangiers *at*, anyway?" Another example -- "Where is Johnnie?" If he's around
somewhere, no "at." But if you're trying to pick his face out of a crowd it's
"Where's he at?" Another -- "I got that five dollars I owe you from last
summer." "Where is it?" Not really the same case, because this "Where is it"
actually means "Give it to me immediately or else."
"At" is required if the answer to the question "Where is X?" would include
"at." "I'm going to the Springsteen concert." "Yeah? Where's it at?" "It's at
the Spectrum." This, too, is a special case, being an elliptical way of saying
"At what venue is it being held?"
In most other cases, I guess, the "at" is just tacked on for no reason other
than as a territorial marker of sorts. "That's the way everybody says it." "It
sounds snooty without it." "If it was good enough for my parents, it's good
enough for me." And so on.
I only use the "at" form myself, I think, in speaking of a stage in an ongoing
process. "Let's get back to writing this press release." "OK, where're we at?"
(Sounds almost exactly like "Where we at?" Just the tiniest lingering on the
're.)
Your "bank" example is a pretty extreme case. This "at" is what passes for
polite deference around here, and replaces the "please" I came to embrace in my
travels in England. It's the speaker's way of saying, "Hail, fellow traveler
along the rocky path of life. I'm sure you commiserate with the plight of one
who, like you surely have been at some point in your meanderings in this vale
of tears, is lost and a little pissed off about it." A bare "Where's the bank?"
would be heard as a demand for information, quite rude, and "Where's the bank,
please?" is not in our idiom.
Perchprism
". . . further, father? That can't be right." - Groucho
Raymot
says...
>
>
>><HTML><PRE>Subject: I'm Not "At" Anywhere
>>From: G Procter <gmpr...@prodigy.net>
>>Date: Thu, Sep 24, 1998 23:52 EDT
>>Message-id: <360B139...@prodigy.net>
>>
>>I think the phrase "where you at?" is wrong but I'm not sure why.
>>Another form of this is "where's it at?" I first heard these
>>expressions in Southern New Jersey and now in Dallas.
>
>The "at" is not needed. The phrases
>are fine as "Where (are) you", and "Where
>is it" without the at.
"Where you" is fine? Why don't we just start
grunting at each other again?
Raymot
=======
Brisbane, Australia
[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[
Curtis Cameron
>i heard some american exchange students asking "where's the bank at?"
>the other day. aussie folk would simply query "where's the bank?". i
>guess this is an example of grammatical variations between dialects...
There's an old joke about a Texas aggie visiting the Harvard campus.
He asks a passer-by "Where is the library at?" The person responds
"Here at Hahvahd, we don't end our sentences in prepositions."
Taken aback, the aggie responds "OK, where is the library at,
asshole?"
-Curtis Cameron
WGS-84 33.033N, 96.724W
Ranjit Mathews
> I think the phrase "where you at?" is wrong but I'm not sure why.
"Which intersection are you at ?" would be correct.
Rex Knepp
>
> I think the phrase "where you at?" is wrong but I'm not sure why.
> expressions in Southern New Jersey and now in Dallas.
>
Perhaps the speakers were from Louisiana, where Cajun folk use "Where
yat?" as an all-purpose greeting[1]. It carries not only the
connotation of "Hello," but also a flavor of "How are you?" and a
soupc,on of "How 'bout them Saints?" The answer is "Fine, and you?"
Never, never, "in New Orleans, you idiot!" even if it's Bun Mui
asking.
By the by, the "I know where you got those shoes" scam is
still alive and well in the Crescent City.
[1] One could rightly argue whether it is a Cajun or a Creole saying;
my white Catholic acquaintances from Lafayette don't seem to use it
except in jest, while my African-American acquaintances from
New Orleans *do* use it.
-30- rex
Joseph C Fineman
>I think the phrase "where you at?" is wrong but I'm not sure why.
>Another form of this is "where's it at?" I first heard these
>expressions in Southern New Jersey and now in Dallas.
As to the missing "are", it may be inaudible rather than omitted.
Reduced to a mere r, it gets absorbed by "where". Does anybody say
"Where I at?" or "Where he at?"?
As to the redundant "at", we (almost) all use "to" & "from" with
"where", to the extent of letting the compact forms "whither" &
"whence" fall into obsolescence. "Where are you at?" is pretty
powerfully suggested by "Where are you taking me to?" & "Where are you
from?". The evidence of some others on this thread is that some
dialects have even found a distinct use for the construction.
--- Joe Fineman j...@world.std.com
||: When a body is badly sexed, :||
||: God knows what god is coming next. :||
Henry Tickner
<gmpr...@prodigy.net> writes
>I think the phrase "where you at?" is wrong but I'm not sure why.
>Another form of this is "where's it at?" I first heard these
>expressions in Southern New Jersey and now in Dallas.
Other posters have correctly pointed out that the "at"s are anything
from redundant to just plain wrong - if the questions are understood
geographically.
However, I would understand the first question, in isolation, as
something like "where are you coming from?", "what's your standpoint on
this?"; the second, "where's it all happening?", "which is the trendiest
nightclub in town?".
Of course, it's all down to who uses them in what context.
--
Henry Tickner
The 'nospam' is my ISP's domain, the 'boudoir' is mine.
Markus Laker
> By the by, the "I know where you got those shoes" scam is
> still alive and well in the Crescent City.
I'm not familiar with that one. How does it go?
Markus,
softly humming 'where -- did you get that hat, where *did* you get that
hat?'
--
a.u.e FAQ and resources: http://homepages.tcp.co.uk/~laker/aue/
Drop the 'drop this bit' bit of my email address to reply.
DK
>i heard some american exchange students asking "where's the bank at?"
>the other day. aussie folk would simply query "where's the bank?". i
>guess this is an example of grammatical variations between dialects...
I come from California. Just as with, "Who's all invited?" I have always
found "Where's the bank at?" to be a horrid misuse of grammar. One of my BIG
pet peeves. As far as I know, it is not dialect, but error.
--Katrina
babydoll
DK wrote:
I can understand how you might regard this as an "error" rather than a dialectal
variation, but I think this is primarily because folk are less sympathetic to
their own dialect's/region's deviations than the deviations of others. I'm
guilty of this myself.
Hearing *your* fellow countrypersons say "where's the bank at?" doesn't raise
much of an eyebrow for an Australian like me -- I just think: "hmmm...that's an
interesting grammatical difference".
However, when faced with some Australian dialect curiosities, my gut instinct is
to wince painfully and inwardly decry the decay of the English language. For
example, it is common for some Aussies these days to say "yous" when addressing
more than one person, e.g. "Are yous coming, or what?" The rationale is that
"you" does not distinguish between singular and plural in the second person.
Therefore, "yous" most clearly accounts for there being more than one
addressee. It mortifies the be-jesus out of me, I can tell you, but non-Aussies
may well find it quite endearing.
John Underwood
alt.usage.english:
(Reference: <360DFE2A...@tig.com.au>)
I think you'll find "yous" occurring in some English dialects in exactly
the same sense you have described, for singular and plural addressees.
My favourite example of the "bad" grammar in regional variations comes
from Cornwall where I heard the sentence: "Her be a beautiful bull".
(A further example in answer to the question "Where does this road go?"
- "Her don't go anywhere, my dear, her stay right where her are".)
--
John Underwood
Kirk Is
speaker is looking for a specific location, leaving out the "at" implies
an almost rhetorical question, or at least one that can answered more
vaguely.
Asking "Where's my money?" questions whether the listener even has the
cash, while "Where's my money at?" implies there's a set amount of cash in
a specific location. "Where's the bank?" might be answered by a general
"over there, thataway" but "where's the bank at?" seems to request an
answer containing an address or specific walking instructions. "Where are
you at?" is looking for an explanation, "Where are you?" sound like more
of a cry of despair.
--
Kirk Israel - kis...@cs.tufts.edu - http://www.alienbill.com
"Sleep... Those little slices of death; O how I LOATH them!"
-- Edgar Allen Poe