Where you at?
Such a tiny word - at! But one that drives me up the wall. At, according to the dictionary means "In or near the area occupied by; in or near the location of". So, if I say" Where are we?", I'm asking for our location; the "at" would be redundant, completely unnecessary. Why does this bother me? I'm not sure, but I was listening to the radio this morning and in interview after interview with survivors of hurricane Katrina, the word came up over and over again.
Don't get me wrong; I don't think we need to throw the word away. We need to be "at work", "at the supermarket" and "at odds with something" but never just "at."
I read once that 98% of the people speak the language and the other 2% go around correcting the rest. This may be true, but I feel there is an obligation on the part of those who speak correctly to help those less fortunate.The addage - "Better to be thought a fool, than to open one's mouth and confirm it." We are judged by how we speak. And for better or worse it has a deep impact on our lives. People will instantly judge your level of intelligence or competence by the way you speak.You can graduate from MIT or Harvard, but if you can't speak well, you may lose a job or your credibility. Is this right or wrong? Those who choose to speak ebonics or those who come to this country and refuse to learn to speak American Standard English, will always be treated as second class citizens.
English is a "living" language. That means it will grow and change according to the usage of the people who speak it. That doesn't mean we have to let every common usage of the language become a part of the language. Do we have to let sloppy usage become the norm? I don't think so.
I think that "Where('re) we at..." you're really saying "Where are we at?" and any derivation of this has become common because we use the contraction 're for are and it demands some sort of completion. So, by putting the verb back into the sentence, the "at" becomes unnecessary and it just sounds better!
Doesn't "Where are you?, sound a whole lot better than "Where you at?