密歇根新闻广播 where's it at是啥意思

We love it when people send us grammar jokes. One that is passed around quite a bit has to do with the construction "where's it at."

There are a few different versions of this joke, but it usually involves a visitor on an Ivy¹ League campus. The visitor stops a student and asks, "Excuse me, can you tell me where the library is at?"

The student responds, "At Harvard, we do not end our sentences with a preposition." So the visitor says, "Excuse me, can you tell me where the library is at, jerk?"

This is where the rimshot would be at.

The joke indicates that what people are bothered by is the preposition at the end of the sentence. However, it could also be possible that they're responding to the redundancy, which is that "where" is already asking for location.

That is, you could just say, "Excuse me, where's the library?"

This construction, with "at" at the end, has been condemned² over the years as uneducated and otherwise wrong. It does feel informal, but this construction is a little more complicated than it appears. There are situations when we actually need that "at," because it sounds weird³ without it.

For example, you might say, "Yes, that's where we are." Fine, but in speech we often use contractions⁴. In this case, "we are" becomes "we're," so you'd say, "Yes, that's where we're."

It sounds like something is missing, right? Perhaps "Yes, that's where we're at" sounds better?

This particular construction shows up in speech that is more formal. Linguist⁵ Mark Liberman cites several examples on his language blog, including this 2012 example from NPR's Talk of the Nation:

"Before the U.S. can even begin negotiations⁶ with the Chinese on that, they want to be very clear of what he wants and see what they can do at this point. And that's where we're at right now, this very fluid and precarious⁷ situation."

We're pretty sure that for most folks, that one would've probably slipped under the radar⁸. Do you notice when people use this construction?

1 ivy   

n.常青藤，常春藤

参考例句：

• Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。
• The wall is covered all over with ivy.墙上爬满了常春藤。

2 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

3 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

4 contractions   

n.收缩( contraction的名词复数 )；缩减；缩略词；（分娩时）子宫收缩

参考例句：

• Contractions are much more common in speech than in writing. 缩略词在口语里比在书写中常见得多。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Muscle contractions are powered by the chemical adenosine triphosphate(ATP ). 肌肉收缩是由化学物质三磷酸腺苷(ATP)提供动力的。 来自辞典例句

5 linguist   

n.语言学家；精通数种外国语言者

参考例句：

• I used to be a linguist till I become a writer.过去我是个语言学家，后来成了作家。
• Professor Cui has a high reputation as a linguist.崔教授作为语言学家名声很高。

6 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

7 precarious   

adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的

参考例句：

• Our financial situation had become precarious.我们的财务状况已变得不稳定了。
• He earned a precarious living as an artist.作为一个艺术家，他过得是朝不保夕的生活。

8 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。