met her in/at a bar

[Topstudent]

I wrote this. It's part of a dialog.

Who said we were friends. I only met her once. Two months ago. In/At a bar. I was there alone, having a drink when this girl came...

As I understand it, Brits only use 'in' here, but what about American's? Would you use 'at' to mean inside a bar whether that'd be at the bar in the bar or at a table or would you also only use 'in'?

 

[Skrej]

I wrote this. It's part of a dialog.

Who said we were friends? I only met her once. Two months ago. In/At a bar. I was there alone, having a drink when this girl came...

As I understand it, Brits only use 'in' here, but what about American's (no apostrophe)? Would you use 'at' to mean inside a bar whether that'd be at the bar in the bar or at a table or would you also only use 'in'?

Either works for me (AmE speaker). I might slightly prefer 'at'.

 

[Piscean]

As I understand it, Brits only use 'in' here,

This Brit might use 'at'.

 

[SoothingDave]

And either works for me, but I'd prefer "in." And yes, it doesn't matter if seated at the bar itself, or at a table in a bar.

 

[emsr2d2]

As I understand it, Brits only use 'in' here, but what about Americans?

It seems, from the responses so far, that it's the other way round. Piscean and I (BrE speakers) would use "at". Soothing Dave (AmE speaker) prefers "in".

 

[PeterCW]

To a British person a "bar" is typically a room within a building where alcohol is served rather than a place in its own right. Historically a British pub would be divided into two or three bars.

 

[emsr2d2]

To a British person a "bar" is typically a room within a building where alcohol is served rather than a place in its own right. Historically a British pub would be divided into two or three bars.

Traditionally, I agree with you. However, quite a lot of people now refer to (mainly) smaller pubs as bars.

 

[jutfrank]

As I understand it, Brits only use 'in' here

That's not true in the least. Both work fine.

 

[White Hat]

Both work fine.

It wouldn't be incorrect to say 'either works fine' here, would it?

 

[White Hat]

I asked this question because of Post 5 in this thread: https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/threads/looking-directly-at-toward-him-now.298469/.

 

[Piscean]

It would have been quicker to look at posts 2 and 4 in this thread.

 

[White Hat]

It would have been quicker to look at posts 2 and 4 in this thread.

I did. Still ... I guess there's nothing wrong with wanting to be sure about things.

 

[jutfrank]

That's not true in the least. Both work fine.

It wouldn't be incorrect to say 'either works fine' here, would it?

I asked this question because of Post 5 in this thread: https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/threads/looking-directly-at-toward-him-now.298469/.

I'm not totally sure what you're getting at.

Both work fine. = Both prepositions are appropriate for the context.

If you want to use 'either', you can do it like this:

You can use either. = You can use any one of the two mentioned prepositions.

If you said the following:

You can use both.

It could be misinterpreted (by an idiot) to mean that they should be used together.

Is that what you're asking?

 

[White Hat]

I'm not missing something, am I? Did you take a look at Post 5 in this thread? The OP says 'Would both be okay?' in that thread, but later that is corrected to 'Would either one be okay?' by a moderator. See what I'm talking about?

 

[jutfrank]

Yes, I see. There's a difference between Are both okay? and Would both be okay?

Are both okay? means 'Are both prepositions suitable for this context' whereas Would both be okay? means (or could mean) 'Would it be okay to use both prepositions at the same time in this context'. That's what emsr2d2 was saying.

 

[emsr2d2]

I'm not missing something, am I? Did you take a look at Post 5 in this thread? The OP says 'Would both be okay?' in that thread, but later that is corrected to 'Would either one be okay?' by a moderator. See what I'm talking about?

I made it very clear why I had changed the word "both" in that thread.

 

[White Hat]

OK. So am I right in thinking that 'Both work fine' and 'Either one works fine' are perfectly interchangeable and 'Would both be okay?' and 'Would either one be okay?' are not?

 

[emsr2d2]

@White Hat You have somewhat hijacked this thread. Please don't add any more posts about "both/either" to allow us to get back to the OP's question.

 

[White Hat]

@White Hat You have somewhat hijacked this thread. Please don't add any more posts about "both/either" to allow us to get back to the OP's question.

I'm sorry. That was not intentional.