Timeline for Where we are exactly if we're "at the sea"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
12 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jan 10, 2017 at 17:29 | comment | added | Lambie | @John Bode I qualified my statements pretty specifically. I didn't say it was not a proper construction. I said that in most circumstances, it is not idiomatic. Now, if I am a painter/poet or otherwise artistically inclined, sure, why not. But on in everyday conversation or normal literary or journalistic writing. Anchors away! :) | |
| Jan 10, 2017 at 14:53 | comment | added | John Bode | @CavidHummatov: Well, if you accept Lambie's position, "at the sea" isn't even a proper construction in English, so it's not that "the" changes the meaning of the statement, it's that "the" makes the statement improper. Like I said earlier, I've heard "at the sea" used more than once, but I'm willing to defer to Lambie on this. I'm not an expert by any stretch, just a native American English speaker (Texan variety). | |
| Jan 9, 2017 at 20:52 | comment | added | Cavid Hummatov | I've edited the question , could you please have a look? | |
| Jan 9, 2017 at 18:59 | comment | added | Lambie | Normally, it would be: At the Seaside. That said, authors take liberties but in contemporary English, it would not be usual or normal. Only poetic. A cottage BY the sea. Those books are just odd usages. | |
| Jan 9, 2017 at 18:34 | comment | added | 1006a | @Lambie It actually shows up in book titles, so I think it must be something that is used formally by some English speakers. See, e.g., Jennifer Bright At the Sea 1996, Michelle Galindo Beach Houses: Living at the Sea 2013, or Brunton & Goodfellow At the Sea 1873. I'm a native AmE speaker, and it sounds formal/old-fashioned, but not ungrammatical or wrong to me. | |
| Jan 9, 2017 at 17:25 | comment | added | choster | At the shore or by the shore or down the shore are also commonplace in the Northeastern U.S. After all, if you say you're going to beach for the weekend, your co-workers might think you're going to Rockaway, not Westhampton. | |
| Jan 9, 2017 at 17:14 | comment | added | Lambie | No "at the sea", not really. Maybe in some kind of utube fast talking or un-careful speech. | |
| Jan 9, 2017 at 17:08 | comment | added | Lambie | A seaside holiday. A holiday by the sea (more BrE). A beach vacation or seaside vacation or vacation by the ocean or sea (more AmE). | |
| Jan 9, 2017 at 17:02 | comment | added | J.R.♦ | There's a relevant thread here. @Lambie - I agree with John Bode. I think at the beach or by the sea are more common in AmE, but my initial thought was that "at the sea" indeed means "on land near the sea", as in cottage at the sea, perhaps. | |
| Jan 9, 2017 at 16:59 | comment | added | John Bode | @Lambie: Interesting - I could swear I've heard that usage more than once. | |
| Jan 9, 2017 at 16:58 | comment | added | Lambie | at the sea is not idiomatic in English: at the seaside, at sea, at the seashore, yes. | |
| Jan 9, 2017 at 16:55 | history | answered | John Bode | CC BY-SA 3.0 |