Few things grate me as much as the phrase, “Where’s that at?” It’s bad when you’re speaking, but it strikes me as fifteen times worse when reading those words, as you may do while on the Twitter.
@totallycooltweeter may tweet: “OMG! If you’re near Big Park, come check out the hot air balloon show!” and in reply, @badgrammar may tweet: “Where’s that at?”
Oh @badgrammar, do you remember nothing from English 101? You don’t end phrases in prepositions. Mr. Sally J had a bad habit of doing this until I pointed out the proper way to ask that question, which is SO SIMPLE, doesn’t offend grammatically, and actually takes up fewer characters when you tweet it (honest! It’s true).
Are you ready?
Instead of tweeting (or speaking aloud), “Where’s that at?” , you simply ask, “Where’s that?”
There you go. You instantly sound more educated and you’ve save two precious characters of the 140 limit in one fell swoop.
4 replies on “Twitter Ready Grammar: Where’s that at? (!@$%!)”
Yeah, the not ending sentences in prepositions rule is totally not legit. John Dryden introduced that rule in a 17th century handbook to try to make English square with Latin rules, not out of any concern for the stylistic rules inherent to English itself. It transforms sentences with perfectly clear meanings into stilted monstrosities. Which phrase sounds better: “I’d like to meet people worth talking to” or “I’d like to meet people with whom it is worthwhile to speak.” Pah!
There’s more on it here: http://grammar.about.com/b/2008/03/26/prepositions-ending-sentences-with.htm
Hear, hear! (Oh god I hope that’s the right here/hear)
I have to admit I am a “where’s that at” offender. I don’t tweet, but I am pretty sure I use it in real life. Sorry Sally J :(