Suggestions to Avoid Malapropisms

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Li Feng calling from Dallas, Texas.

Hi, Li Feng. Welcome to the show.

Thank you.

What can we do for you today?

I have a question about the word where.

Normally, I would hear people talking about asking questions about the location. They would say, where is that? Or, where are you at? I didn’t learn English here in the U.S., but I think that’s probably not the right way. When I learn English, it really means to see at which location. And so it seems redundant to add to at.

Where did you learn English?

I learned English in China.

Okay.

And so you learned that if I’m looking for a book and I ask Grant, I would say, where is it, rather than where is it at?

Exactly.

Correct.

Yes. Yes, you’re exactly right. There’s no need for that at, right? It’s redundant.

I’m looking at one of our favorite books on usage, which is Brian Garner’s Modern American Usage, and he says the usage is notoriously illiterate.

Garner is dramatic.

Well, he’s also right.

No, he says that, you know, in the 1960s, people would talk about this is where it’s at, but it was kind of a joke.

And he says that saying where is it at is no more grammatical today than it ever was when not used with a wink and a nudge.

It’s still a badge of illiteracy.

But Lee Fong, to put this in proper context, Brian Garner is on the very extreme of the most formal English.

And he’s right that in most of the circles in which he travels to say where is it at is completely unacceptable.

He’s a lawyer.

He knows the top legal minds of our age.

These are the people that he’s writing for.

That’s right. That’s where he is. That is not where he is at.

But, Li Feng, the thing about this is, in colloquial informal usage, where is it at is so incredibly common.

We will never get to a point where people just drop that at.

There’s the Jennifer Hudson song, right? Where are you at?

There’s a tagline for a mobile phone company, where are you at?

That’s true.

I mean, they just leave out, they even have copula deletion. They just leave out the is all together.

Tell us, why does that particular usage interest you?

Why do you want to know?

Yeah, good question.

Because I have a kid.

I have a six-and-a-half-years-old son, and he’s going to school here.

And I really want him to grow up speaking proper English and be able to know what is the proper way of talking or speaking in English and what is more informal or quirky way.

It’s just I’ve been noticing other things,

And he starts to use this, you know, me and my mom doing something.

And it just bothers me.

Right, right.

He’s being influenced by his peers then.

So I’m trying to have a rule in the house that you only speak proper English when you’re in the house.

You can talk to your peers, your classmates, however way you want.

But when you are in the house, pay attention to the language you use.

Yeah, I think that’s a great policy.

He’s six and a half.

He’s learning.

It’s up to you and the rest of the adults that he knows to guide him towards the best English possible.

He’s going to make mistakes along the way.

He’s going to pick up bad habits from television and from his friends and maybe even some of the books that he’s reading.

But as long as you’re there to gently correct him and say, look, here’s a better way to do this, he’s going to remember that for the rest of his life.

It’s going to lead him to a place where he may still say things that aren’t formal or absolutely correct, but he’ll remember in the back of his mind that, oh, mama said it was something else.

There’s a book that may be better than just a regular dictionary to help you.

Michael Swan has written a book that I believe is called Learners of English.

And it’s mostly about people who don’t speak English as a first language, who are learning English as a second or third or fourth language.

But a lot of the advice that he gives in this book works perfectly towards kids who are learning English as their first language.

Because it’s about knowing that all of these stages of mistakes have to happen before you get to something approximating perfection.

As a child, your son has to make these mistakes before he can get to the better language.

We all go through it. All of us.

And he’s got to pass through these stages before he gets there.

And that takes a little bit of load off of you.

You just know that he’s got a lot more schooling ahead of him, at least another 12 years, right?

Right.

Probably.

Hopefully.

Hopefully.

A lot more schooling ahead of him, and you’re going to be there guiding him along the way.

He’ll find mentors along the way.

He’ll start reading great literature.

That will guide him.

So it’s a process.

Look for this book, Michael Swan’s Learners of English, and see if that isn’t better than a dictionary, because they have example sentences in there, and that’s kind of what you need.

Great.

That sounds great.

Well, it sounds like he chose his parents very well.

Oh, thank you so much.

Okay.

I really love your show.

Thank you, Lifang.

Oh, thank you.

Thanks for coming.

Thank you.

Make him listen to it.

That will help, too.

Lock him in a room.

Jump us a line every once in a while.

Let us know how he’s coming along, all right?

All right.

Well, thank you, Martha and Grant.

Thanks, Lifang.

Bye-bye.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

Give us a call about your kids and the English that they’re learning or Spanish or French or Chinese or whatever tongue they’re practicing.

Let us know how it’s going and call us about your questions and problems, 877-929-9673.