Why do we say, "when I look in the mirror" instead of "when I look in a mirror?"
Why do we say, "when I look in the mirror" instead of "when I look in a mirror?"
47 comments
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in my experience, people use both, but in different contexts.
"in the mirror" tends to more often refer to a metaphorical "mirror", typically when discussing self-reflection
- "I took a look in the mirror and decided to change my ways."
"in a mirror" tends to refer most often to actual mirrors that exist in reality, not metaphorically
- "I looked into a mirror to fix my eyeliner."
I've seen people use each interchangeably, but i would consider that a common mistake of style and form, not as a common valid usage.
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A fair guess, but this isn't one of those times when a grammatical error becomes normalized through common usage.
There is no grammar rule that separates speaking literally versus metaphorically in this case.
"You have something on your face; go take a look in the mirror" is just as grammatically correct in English as "You need to take a good look in the mirror and change your ways."
I've explained why this is standard usage in English in my comment here.
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“You have something on your face; go take a look in the mirror” is just as grammatically correct in English
yes, but only if you're referring to a specific mirror. so, "go look in the mirror" would be appropriate if you're also indicating to/pointing at a mirror, or there's been a specific mirror under discussion already (or if the audience already knew there was only one mirror they could be referring to.)
also, it's not technically a grammatical error, but one of poor style/form.
edit: also, i'm not a fan of the "using the grammar and spelling of a 3 year-old is valid because language is fluid!" argument. bad grammar and poor style/form are just that. just because doing so may be popular doesn't magically make it "valid". to me, that whole argument reeks of, "I'm not wrong for being ignorant, you're wrong for pointing out my mistake-- so it's magically not a mistake anymore so I can avoid acknowledging ever being wrong!"
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In languages that distinguish definiteness (e.g. English) usually if you're talking about a "kind of thing", you can use either the definite or indefinite form and make sense. Only if you're talking about a specific thing does the distinction matter: "a mirror" = a mirror I'm now introducing and you don't know about yet, "the mirror" = the mirror we talked about before and you already know about; but either form can mean "mirrors in general". There are slight stylistic differences what's preferred in what contexts depending on the language, but in German too you can say "in den Spiegel schauen".
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My assumption would be that it's because we don't really look at mirrors per se but rather the reflection in them, so the definite article is indicating the fungibility of the mirror itself. This total speculation on my part though and I might be totally wrong.
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I like this interpretation. Fungible is a great way to describe the function of the physical mirror in the phrasing.
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I look in the mirror when I have a specific mirror in mind when I say it. Otherwise it's a mirror.
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Maybe there's a cultural idea about mirrors being somehow "the same". After all, a mirror shows the same thing regardless of which one it is. Or related in cultural mythology to a singular adjoining world that contains your doppelganger (in such media, you don't usually have a separate mirror-self for every mirror, but one that can be accessed from any mirror). Also could be a turn of phrase that stuck without a good reason.
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Because no matter in what mirror you look, they‘re all the same. That‘s why we say the clock or the calendar. It‘s universal.
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how about "going to the doctor"? :D
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We like to think English follows a consistent set of rules.
It doesn't.
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Because there's only one mirror world and all mirrors are windows into it.
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Yes, that's what I came here to say
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I suspect it has to do with being a sort of household appliance. Similar to the fridge, the TV, the bathtub, etc. People think about it in that sense most frequently and it becomes the common parlance.
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I can't answer your question. But I'll bet it's the same reason we say we saw something "on the TV."
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I feel like that's an elderly thing. Most people cut out the "the"
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I'm not a linguist, but here's my guess.
Take these sentences where a similar thing happens.
- "Look out the window."
- "I'm heading to the gym."
- "You should hold the door for people."
- "You need a trip to the barber."
In these cases, the noun isn't actually that important, more than it is what you're doing with the noun. These nouns represent the general act of doing something, and I guess since that action is a singular specific thing, we use "the".
This applies to "Look in the mirror." The actual mirror doesn't really matter much. The focus is on the general act of looking at your clear reflection.
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Do you think maybe 'a mirror' refers to actually visually looking at a mirror and 'the mirror' refers to taking inventory of yourself? Unless there's actually a mirror nearby that you're referring to.
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Makes sense to me because I'm referring to a specific mirror, the one in my bathroom.
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Imo, it's because "the mirror" means "the reflexion in the mirror" you rarely actually look a mirror itself
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Mirrors used to be expensive so I imagine it came from a whole family sharing just 1. And perhaps they were not common enough for them to even think about other mirrors. So they would just refer to the singular mirror they had.
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I feel like it has to do with the "mystical" or metaphorical perception of mirrors, especially early on.
Like, as if looking "into a mirror" is analogous to looking "into a (or rather: the) mirror world", if that makes sense.
Kind of the same reason we use the preposition "in" or "into" rather than the more physically correct "at".
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Thanks for this. The rules it describes were what I was thinking but I couldn't put my finger on it.
47 comments
English teacher here. Articles in English can be really confusing but essentially we use the definite article in this situation because:
Tell me you haven't read Jonathan Strange without telling me you haven't read Jonathan Strange 😏 obviously it's because all mirrors are connected - as entrances to the King's Way of old.
Ukrainian here. IMO, the first statement is half-stupid, the second one is half-overcomplicated :) no offense to you personally, of course. I understand the whole concept of articles in English and know (at least I thought I knew before this post) their correct usage, and in all use cases I can remember the article uses are logically acceptable for a foreigner, but this one with the mirror and the bathroom is messed up a bit :)
Welcome to English, my friend. No one ever claimed that it wasn't a pain in the arse to learn :)
The second example is quite good imo. You would never say “I’m going to a bathroom.” Even if you were in a stadium with hundreds of bathrooms, you would still say you are going to the bathroom.
Same as you might say I’m taking the train. Not usually taking a train, though I’ve heard that too sometimes. Though oddly you usually say I’m taking a plane, not the plane. Also I’m taking the freeway, not a freeway. I’m usually going to the doctor, less often than a doctor.