Jeff from Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California, wants to know if he’s wrong to say, I’m going over Martha’s house, meaning “I’m going over to Martha’s house.” He’s always left out the word to from that phrase. His wife argues that he’s implying that he’s going to fly over the person’s house. The expression going over, as opposed to going over to, is a case of locative prepositional deletion, which occurs when we take out a preposition when talking about direction or destination. This particular version sometimes occurs in Massachusetts, where, as it happens, Jeff grew up. This is part of a complete episode.
More from this show
What makes a great first line of a book? How do the best authors put together an initial sentence that draws you in and makes you want to read more? We’re talking about the openings of such novels as George Orwell’s 1984...
To slip someone a mickey means to doctor a drink and give it to an unwitting recipient. The phrase goes back to Mickey Finn of the Lone Star Saloon in Chicago, who in the late 19th century was notorious for drugging certain customers and relieving...