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In English, why do we use "at" in phrases such as "good at [doing something]", "terrible at [doing something]", etc.?

I'm trying to think of an example of how "at" is similarly used in other contexts, to shed light on this, but I'm coming up blank.

Luke Hutchison
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  • It's pretty thoroughly arbitrary. Certain prepositions go with certain words in certain phrases. They have to be learned as units; there isn't any "Why" to explain. – John Lawler Mar 17 '21 at 23:00
  • Keep at it. If you work at it long enough you’ll get it. – Jim Mar 18 '21 at 06:59
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    @JohnLawler: Could "at" in such contexts be called a "[specific location on a] surface metaphor"? Or is that stretching things a bit far? My main justification being that I'm increasingly becoming convinced that *all language is metaphor, so it should be possible to classify just about everything as different kinds* of metaphoric references. – FumbleFingers Mar 18 '21 at 15:51
  • There *is* a locative sense, though mostly at is governed by individual lexical items. This answer summarizes Fillmore's discussion, with links. – John Lawler Mar 18 '21 at 18:07

1 Answers1

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Preposition at is often used in the following context:

to show the activity in which someone's ability is being judged:

  • I was never very good at sports. He's very good at getting on with people. She's hopeless at organizing things.

but also

to show the cause of something, especially a feeling:

  • We were surprised at the news. I was quite excited at the prospect. Why does no one ever laugh at my jokes?

(Cambridge Dictionary)

user 66974
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