The Fall of English Grammar
"Where's that at?" I'll tell you- it's at the wrong end of the wrong kind of sentence.
"I'm good," is a somewhat existential statement. It does not mean, "no thank you."
Where may a young immigrant with limited reading skills learn to speak properly? Common speech is deplorable; the television is worse; even most new children's books are written carelessly.
posted by Adeoamata at 5:22 AM
2 Comments:
Hey, Miss Manners, you need to rethink this. "Where is that at?" is not good grammar, as the "at" is superfluous. But knowledge says that grammar is wrong: the appendage "at" indicates the expectation of an answer along the lines of "It is at the corner of 3rd and Walnut" or "It is at home" -- not an answer like "it is on the table."
And "I am good" can function similarly to "no thank you" since a "good" person can be one who is satisfied and requires nothing further, thus he is disposed to reject an offer. Miss Manners, you simply must have tea with Dr. Logic sometime!
10:01 PM
Maybe it's due to lecture-class-induced brain death, but I don't understand the first paragraph, Tom. "Where's that at?" is bad grammar and also doesn't really make sense.
Answering the second would require way more mental capacity than I have right now. (I hope that community college brain damage is reversible...)
7:48 PM
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