This screenshot illustrates another issue that's been bothering me for quite some time. It's a drop down menu from a website offering kosher food. It asks you to select your CITY (there is the word "region" in the English language, you know). Hmmm... who knew that New York doesn't fit the bill? It seems Brooklyn is now a city... as well as Queens and the Five Towns. Who knew?
5 comments:
Well pre 1800 something they used to be!;)
I would like to defend the usage of the preposition "by" in certain examples. If the "them" is referring to a person it would be correct to use "by". For example, person A to person B "I am going to G6 for a shabbos meal." Person B replies "I was by them for Shabbos." I think the usage of "by" would be correct. Since the preposition "by" is used to indicate proximity and in this instance "them" is referring to a person. The preposition "at" is used to indicate a place. However, in this sentence "them" is referring to a person not a place. "I was by them for Shabbos" means I was in proximity (the state of being near) of someone for Shabbos.
YW, you're being disingenuous. You know full well that when people say they were "by" someone for Shabbos, they don't mean they were seated beside or in close proximity to them. They mean they were AT their house.
The use of "by" meaning "at" comes from Yiddish, in which language "I stayed by my friend's house" is correct. In proper English, "staying by Ploni's house" means maintaining a position beside the house.
When ones wants to indicate that he or she spent Shabbos at/by a person, the main focus is not which building they are in, but rather whom are they by. So I would argue that the noun to use is "them" not "their house" Do you really care whether they live on the fourth floor or the third floor? No, because it is the person you are by that matters not which building or which floor. The significance of being at the house are the people who resides at the house. If you were to say "I was at their house for Shabbos" that would be grammatically correct. As much as you have a problem with by/at, I have a issue with them/their house. If you are going to change from "by" to "at", you could not forget the proper noun that matches it. In this instance it would be "their house/apartment. By=them At= their house. They have to match up.
I would love to hear your thoughts.
G8, Not only is Brooklyn a city in New York State, so, apparently, is Chinatown! When I enter a certain Lower Manhattan zip code into a certain application at my workplace, the "city" field fills in "Chinatown". One wonders which IT genius came up with that one.
Unlike Brooklyn, Chinatown has zero excuse, as it was never an independent municipality .
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