0

I was at my house and my mom asked me to get the washcloths. I went upstairs and yelled "Where are the washcloths at?". Then my dad "corrected" me by saying "where are the washcloths". I hear a lot of people around me add "at" to a sentence like this, as in "where's it at?' or "where'd you put it at?". Are these statements correct? If so, why? Was my statement grammatically correct? If so, why?

Bob
  • 71
  • Did your mother understand the question? I'm guessing she didn't have any trouble with it, and neither did your dad. – Robusto Oct 08 '22 at 03:49
  • 3
    It’s informal, colloquial, similar to the use of ain’t. – Jim Oct 08 '22 at 04:10
  • I imagine that you live in West Yorkshire or East Lancashire. The use of 'at' at the end of "Where" questions is a feature of the local dialects in that area. I also imagine that you may have moved to the area rather than having been born there and are acquiring the accent and dialect by assimilation. If you'd been born there you'd just use "Where's it at?" and never even notice that you were doing it. – BoldBen Oct 08 '22 at 07:11
  • I've just noticed that you referred to you mother as 'mom' so I assume you are American. If there's an American dialect with 'at' at the end of 'where' questions I would find that interesting. – BoldBen Oct 08 '22 at 07:14
  • 1
    @BoldBen David Foster Wallace notes in his Harper’s article https://harpers.org/wp-content/uploads/HarpersMagazine-2001-04-0070913.pdf that this construction is common in what he calls the Rural Midwest dialect; he defends it. – Xanne Oct 08 '22 at 08:12
  • my mom understood the question. I have heard a lot of people around me add "at" to a sentence as in "where's it at?". I live in Indiana by the way. Is this an Indiana thing or do people in other states do this too? If so, which ones? – Bob Oct 08 '22 at 13:28
  • 1
    It's all over the country, and it's more associated with socioeconomic class than with dialect area. Most people live in cities any more. – John Lawler Oct 08 '22 at 14:27
  • but is "where's it at?" grammatically correct? I don't care about the rule that says you can't end a sentence with a preposition, because that rule is stupid. – Bob Oct 08 '22 at 17:14

0 Answers0