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Subject:Re: Sportscasters and language From:Beverly Parks <bparks -at- HUACHUCA-EMH1 -dot- ARMY -dot- MIL> Date:Mon, 13 Feb 1995 08:49:39 MST
Vincent Reh <VincentR -at- SC -dot- HARRIS -dot- COM> wrote--
The discussion on "begging the question" makes me think of
another possible misuse of English. For the past few years,
I've noticed that sportscasters have begun to say, "The
Toronto Maple Leafs are at home to the Buffalo Sabres tonight....."
Aside from the 'Leafs" pluralization, why are teams at home "to"
another team? Shouldn't they be at home "with" the other team?
Both US and Canadien sportscasters use the "to" structure.
=====
I'm not a sports fan, so I couldn't say from the "home to"
example just whose home was hosting the game. I would guess the
Maple Leafs were at home and the Sabres were the visitors.
However, I don't know that "home with" would be any clearer. For
example, if Mary lives on Elm St. and John lives on Oak St. and
I said "Mary is at home with John tonight," where are they? My
best guess would be that they are at Mary's house, but is that
obvious?
=*= Beverly Parks =*= bparks -at- huachuca-emh1 -dot- army -dot- mil =*=
=*= "Unless otherwise stated, all comments are my own. =*=
=*= I am not representing my employer in any way." =*=
