• skygirl@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    I had to explain to a friend recently why

    “I’m at Steve’s house”

    Was fine but

    “I’m in Steve’s house”

    Was weird. Like, get out of there before you get arrested.

    • tunetardis@lemmy.ca
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      6 months ago

      I’m at Steve’s house.

      I’m in Steve’s backyard.

      I’m at Steve’s backyard barbecue.

      Yeah, English is pretty f’d up.

      • fossphi@lemm.ee
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        6 months ago

        Nah, this kinda does make sense. You wouldn’t wanna be inside Steve’s barbecue, would you?

    • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      That reminds me that my sixth grade teacher was adamant that 'I am going over Steve’s house" meant that one was visiting the house, not flying over it.

      • magikmw@lemm.ee
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        6 months ago

        I like learning french because it shows me how weird the connections to english are.

        “Chez Steve” means “At Steve’s [place]”. This one is more verbose in english.

        But you can say “chez moi” for “at home”. And no need to specify which home.

    • Sentau@discuss.tchncs.de
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      6 months ago

      I would sure appreciate that explanation. Like I broadly get that ‘at’ implies you are present with the person’s knowledge while ‘in’ implies you are there without their knowledge but I would like an explanation of why the meanings are implied as such