"where is the library at?"

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Where I live, I often hear it. I’m in a somewhat rural, somewhat northern area of the US.

Our eighth grade English teacher would say "next time someone asks you 'where is it at?' just answer 'between the A, and the T'.".

Does anyone actually know what the "At" part means that is different to not using the "At"? "At" is a location? But it does not make sense?

I got it wrong as well. We would not say "Where is your head?" We would say "I can't see your head" because we would be pretty stupid talking to someone that does not have a head! But "Where is your head at?" means that the person is hinting that their head is so ewhere else and not on the persons body which is quite a creepy thought because the person must be alive (Or they would be pretty stupid talking to a decapitated corpse), and they are implying that the person is still alive but that their head is somewhere else (As in not on the persons body which is creepy!

But the same "At" term is used for other things as well. Creepy if used for parts of the body I must say! Hehe!

Hehe. You Americans are funny. The more I think about what the term means the more my thoughts are running wild.

Thoughts running wild... Do thoughts run? Do they have little legs?

I suppose if one asked "Where is the library?" that one would imply that directions are needed to get there, but if one asks "Where is the library at?" one implies one wants the actual address and postcode as one wants the exact specific location and not just directions to get there as the "At" adds a specification to the question?

In case anyone didn’t get the joke here: the word “with” is a preposition so the rule violates its own rule.

Humour was intended.

I missed that. Is getting too deep for me!

"At where is the library?"

That makes more sense, but here we would not use the "At". (Sorry for going off topic as I am enjoying exploring my thoughts on where words come from and why they are said).

To never split an infinitive is mandatory.

Don't never use no double negatives no way, and no how.

Avoid cliches like the plague!

And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.

Don't be redundant, don't use more words than necessary, it's very tedious and really shouldn't be done.

Contractions aren't appropriate in formal writing and shouldn't be used in such, so don't.

Q: Where's Uncle Ned at?
A: He's at the library.

Professor: In spoken casual English, but never in formal written English, we do sometimes come across cases where a double negative is used. In these cases the two negatives combine to indicate a positive. However, we never, EVER, see the case where two positives combine to mean a negative.

Student: Yah, yah.

A: He's at in Florida.

A: He's at on the roof.

A: He's at under the big tree.

A: He's at over there.

A: He's at with Aunt Jean.

A: He's at behind you.

A: He's at across the meadow.

A: He's at outside.

A: He's at around the corner.

A: He's at down the street.

A: He's at near the school.

A: He's at beside the house.


( ??? )

Likewise, should it be:

Q: Where is Uncle Ned .... in? on? with?

That's "Little Rascals" type spelling....

"The" has to come after "at". At - the - location. At the bank, at the racetrack, at the airport. And it has to be a location that's "the something". "At California" doesn't work because "the California" doesn't work either. Well okay "at the UK" doesn't work either. Nothing's perfect.

It's rather similar to transitive and intransitive verbs in a loose sense:

"At a town in California" would work.

"At California," obviously, wouldn't. One could only be "in" California linguistically.

California is a large entity with many "ats." "At the library" denotes a specific location.