Raymond asks:
Since moving to New York, I've noticed that people here say 'standing on line' rather than 'standing in line'. Are the two interchangeable or am I right in finding the former a bit odd sounding? I call upon your expertise to settle this most troubling matter.
I used to live in New York, but that was many years ago when most New Yorkers spoke Dutch!
More seriously, you've touched on an important point. Speakers of every language tend to break into dialect groups. The dialect may reflect the speakers' age, class, ethnicity, or education. In some parts of New York State, for example, your house has a "stoop"—from the Dutch word "stoep," meaning "porch." The word goes back to the Dutch colonial days of the 17th century. In other parts of the US, you may sit out on the verandah.
While I don't recall New Yorkers standing "on line" in the 1950s and early 60s, I'm sure you've heard correctly. This is a small dialectal variation, one of countless variations in American English.
I still recall reading the Memphis, Tennessee newspaper with horror one Christmas: The icy streets had caused "car smashes" that sounded terrible. Eventually I learned that "car smash" was a local dialect term for what I knew in California as a "fender bender."
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