Tuesday
Apr132010
The Genuine Article
Tuesday, April 13, 2010 at 05:07PM FROM ASK FIGARO: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE IN MEANING BETWEEN “EATING AT TABLE” AND “EATING AT THE TABLE”? - Mary
The seemingly modest article “the” actually leads an exciting life. Imagine if you killed the “at” in front of “eating at the table”: you’d be witness to an act of xylophagy!
Putting “the” in front of a word specifies the object. You’re not just talking about any table here. We’re talking about THE table. (Figaro once stayed at a hotel called “The Hotel” in Vegas. He pronounced it “Thuh Hotel” at the front desk and they almost threw him out.)
Eating “at table,” on the other hand, has a snobbish, Anglophile feel to it. It implies an un-American style of eating with a knife and fork. One certainly does not eat one’s McDonald’s Happy Meal “at table,” does one?
So next time you’re at table, pull up a “the” before chowing down.
The seemingly modest article “the” actually leads an exciting life. Imagine if you killed the “at” in front of “eating at the table”: you’d be witness to an act of xylophagy!
Putting “the” in front of a word specifies the object. You’re not just talking about any table here. We’re talking about THE table. (Figaro once stayed at a hotel called “The Hotel” in Vegas. He pronounced it “Thuh Hotel” at the front desk and they almost threw him out.)
Eating “at table,” on the other hand, has a snobbish, Anglophile feel to it. It implies an un-American style of eating with a knife and fork. One certainly does not eat one’s McDonald’s Happy Meal “at table,” does one?
So next time you’re at table, pull up a “the” before chowing down.
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