{"id":82,"date":"2007-12-18T12:00:24","date_gmt":"2007-12-18T18:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kirkmahoney.com\/blog\/2007\/12\/im-not-sure-where-shes-at\/"},"modified":"2007-12-18T12:44:09","modified_gmt":"2007-12-18T18:44:09","slug":"im-not-sure-where-shes-at","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kirkmahoney.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2007\/12\/im-not-sure-where-shes-at\/","title":{"rendered":"“I’m not sure where she’s at.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

I heard this spoken by a police officer on the “COPS” television show.<\/p>\n

Problem:<\/strong>
\nThe “at” in this statement is unnecessary.<\/p>\n

Explanation:<\/strong>
\nI blogged about “at” last month in my “Where are you at?”<\/a> post. As I wrote then, “where” implies<\/em> “at” because “where”<\/em> is conceptually equivalent to “at” plus a location<\/em>. Therefore, “at” is unnecessary.<\/p>\n

Beyond failing to think a second time about what the word “where” means, I believe that there is another reason why someone would say “she’s at” instead of “she is”, especially at the end of a sentence. Try saying “she’s at” and “she is”; I believe that you’ll agree with me that “she’s at” is simpler to say than is “she is”.<\/p>\n

The phrase “she’s at” rolls off the tongue quickly as SHE-ZAT<\/em>. The phrase “she is” struggles off the tongue as SHE-IZZ<\/em>. Also, one must hold the IZZ<\/em> part longer than one must hold the ZAT<\/em> part to be understood by the listener.<\/p>\n

In other words, the tendency of some to prefer “she’s at” over “she is” is consistent with my “Devolution toward Simpler” hypothesis.<\/p>\n

Solution:<\/strong>
\n“I’m not sure where she is.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I heard this spoken by a police officer on the “COPS” television show. Problem: The “at” in this statement is unnecessary. Explanation: I blogged about “at” last month in my “Where are you at?” post. As I wrote then, “where” implies “at” because “where” is conceptually equivalent to “at” plus a location. 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