2 thoughts on “Staying home: guilty or innocent?

  1. Shikari

    That’s fun! ‘Home’ as an adverb was “Orig. accus. of home noun, as the case of destination after a verb of motion”, an idea familiar enough to any student of German – thus, at least, sayeth the Shorter Oxford. It also adds:
    “4. b With no implication of motion: in one’s home, at home. N. Amer. m19.”

    Small wonder, then, that “stay home” doesn’t grate on my ear as ungrammatical, if I’ve heard “stay home!” in a Brooklyn accent in a hundred cop dramas!

    1. Louise Post author

      Thanks,Shikari! So there is a British v. American argument here, as well as a grammatical/usage one …
      – Glossophilia

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