Omission of definite article

[Joel S. Berson]

Strange stuff (to me) -- many of us have the same constraints in our
speech, but have difficulty expressing why.

I think Damien's analysis in terms of time and habit is on a useful
path.  But instead of "permanence" I wonder whether it is (for lack
of a perhaps better term) more nearly "habituation", as the OED says
"the condition of being habituated (to something)".  I'm "in bed"
because it's something I do (someplace I am) regularly (normally,
once a day); I'm "in the bed" when there's something unusual about
it, or specific in time.  I (US) don't say "at table", but for those
that do, if asked where they are (thus defining a specific moment),
would they answer "at table" or (as I am presuming) "at the table"?

Joel

At 1/20/2010 05:17 AM, Damien Hall wrote:
>I also still think that all of these ('in (the) hospital',
>'at (the) University', 'catch (a) cold', 'at (the) table') have something
>to do with permanency, or with whether or not the state described is a
>'recognised' state that a normal life can be expected to pass through.
>(Sorry, I'm not a semanticist, so I think I don't know the terms!) Anyway,
>what I mean is that there are recognised cultural or regular habits of
>being 'in hospital' (everyone gets ill), 'at school/college/university'
>(many people do this), 'at table' (everyone eats), 'in bed' (everyone
>sleeps). By contrast, the versions with 'the' or other determiners in them
>are more transitory or less culturally-recognised: 'in the hospital' if you
>just happen to be there or work there but are not a patient; 'at the
>school' if you just happen to be there but are not a student; 'at the
>table' if you are using a dining-table to do something else, like work or
>play a board-game (I couldn't say "He's working at table"); 'in the bed' if
>you (or something) are there doing something not habitually done in a bed.

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org