A rant at 'at'
I hate the word 'at.'
Well, not really. It's a perfectly good word, and has lots of uses, so there's no reason why I should hate it.
The problem comes not from the word but from its usage, Specifically the phrase, "Where is it at?" and similar constructions. It's a horribly ugly and unnecessary construction. There is neither reason nor point to the use of the word 'at' in that phrase. It's superfluous and unnecessary.
When I hear it the first thing I think is that the person doesn't know what the word 'where' means.
"Where is it?" carries all the information you need if you want to ask someone the location of an item. "Where is it at?" doesn't add anything useful to the question. All it does is make the speaker sound stupid.
Okay I'm off-- want to keep all my blood vessels intact.
Well, not really. It's a perfectly good word, and has lots of uses, so there's no reason why I should hate it.
The problem comes not from the word but from its usage, Specifically the phrase, "Where is it at?" and similar constructions. It's a horribly ugly and unnecessary construction. There is neither reason nor point to the use of the word 'at' in that phrase. It's superfluous and unnecessary.
When I hear it the first thing I think is that the person doesn't know what the word 'where' means.
"Where is it?" carries all the information you need if you want to ask someone the location of an item. "Where is it at?" doesn't add anything useful to the question. All it does is make the speaker sound stupid.
Okay I'm off-- want to keep all my blood vessels intact.