1

When I search Google, "where did you get the black eye?" is almost as common as "how did you get the black eye?"

Is the question with "where" natural to you? And if yes, why?

1 Answer 1

2

It seems reasonable. Asking "where" is implicitly asking not only for the location, but the situation.

There is, perhaps, a little irony in the question too. If someone has a new haircut you might ask "Where did you get the haircut", ie. "which shop". So this is might be ironically treating the black eye as if it was a fashion.

"How" is the obvious question, but "where" doesn't seem strange, and, as you say, google provides plenty of examples.

4
  • 1
    Yes. If someone aasked you "Where did you get that black eye?" and you wanted to be a smart aleck, I suppose you could say "In Michigan." That would be responsive to the literal meaning of the question, but obviously not what they really meant by the question. Lots of jokes and smart aleck response are based on taking some statement or question absolutely literally when everyone knows that that's not what was meant.
    – Jay
    Jun 19, 2020 at 20:02
  • If you wanted to be an even smarter Aleck (UK: Alec), you could say "in the front of of my face". If you wanted to be severely topical, maybe you could say 'in Minnesota'? Jun 19, 2020 at 20:52
  • Could I answer "in a fight" to the question and would it be what the person asking the question was looking for?
    – user116750
    Jun 20, 2020 at 9:46
  • Also, would it be natural to add "from" to the question and would it change anything?
    – user116750
    Jun 20, 2020 at 9:48

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .