[Vocabulary] To go over someone's house

[Desaes]

To go over someone's house. What it means?

 

[Rover_KE]

Welcome to the forum.

To go over someone's house. What does it mean?

Please note the correct way to ask your question.

In what context did you read that phrase?

 

[jutfrank]

go over someone's house is an informal spoken BrE way of saying visit someone at their house.

Also similar: come over (Come over mine at around nine.)

 

[Rover_KE]

Your question in WordReference forums was titled 'To go over to someone's house'.

Is that what you meant to ask here?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

To go over to someone's house. What does it mean?

To visit.

 

[Barb_D]

I'm not trying to be overly picky - is the "to" required in British English or not?

I went over to Jon's house -- this is how we'd say it in American English.

 

[emsr2d2]

The "to" isn't entirely necessary in BrE.

I'm going over John's later.
He went over his mum's for Sunday lunch.

My preference is for the version with "to" though.

There is another meaning for "to go over" - "to examine" or "to search".

I was burgled last year. The police went over my house looking for fingerprints and other clues.

 

[GoesStation]

The "to" isn't entirely necessary in BrE.

I'm going over John's later.
He went over his mum's for Sunday lunch.

Even though the dropped preposition is different, this feels similar to the BrE expression down the pub,​ meaning "at the pub."

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Some Americans leave out the to, but it's too informal to be called standard American English.

When Marylanders say "going down (to) the ocean," it often sounds like "goin' danny aichin."

 

[Barb_D]

I was just thinking about a local variation of "down the shore" (We're going down the shore this weekend). It seems to be used almost exclusively in this area to refer to going to the ocean along the New Jersey shore. (When you go to Delaware, you are going to the beach. It's very strange here.)

In all other ways, I'd say the "to" is required in American English, though there may be little micro-regional exceptions.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

And if you fly to the beach, you're sure to go over someone's house!

 

[Skrej]

Coming from a land-locked state, if somebody said they were 'going down the beach', I would be left with the impression that they're walking/riding/driving down a section of the beach. If they said 'down to the beach', I'd assume they meant they were visiting a beach.

I guess I'd parse it similar to 'going down the river' vs. 'going down to the river'.

But then, we don't have rivers where I live either, or at least rivers with water. :-(

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Coming from a land-locked state, if somebody said they were 'going down the beach', I would be left with the impression that they're walking/riding/driving down a section of the beach. If they said 'down to the beach', I'd assume they meant they were visiting a beach.

I guess I'd parse it similar to 'going down the river' vs. 'going down to the river'.

But then, we don't have rivers where I live either, or at least rivers with water. :-(

That reminds me of the story of the Arizonan who went to live in New York. When he went back home to visit, he had no trouble answering questions about tall buildings and subways and traffic.

But when someone got around to asking what the Hudson River was like, he had to say, "I have no idea. It's always full of water."