Talk:go to bed

The following information passed a request for deletion.

This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.

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go to bed

--Connel MacKenzie 04:52, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

Please, for the love of God, don't tell me we're keeping this! Atelaes 05:22, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

Why not? It's unidiomatic, as it means something different than merely going to (sit/read/watch TV) in bed. Bear in mind, to "go to bed" with someone has yet another meaning. Add that and keep. Cheers! bd2412 T 06:41, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

You mean idiomatic, correct? DAVilla 18:09, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

Er... uh... yeah. bd2412 T 06:44, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

Ugh, I give up. Atelaes 15:39, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

This should be deleted. To claim that 'go to bed' means 'go to sleep' is no more different than 'go to the shop' can imply 'buy groceries'. It is still the sum of its parts.--Dmol 19:28, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

Redirect to bed. "Go to bed" defies the normal rules of English grammar, in that it contains a non-attributive singular count noun without any determiner; but this is a special property of the noun bed (we also have "in bed", "out of bed"), not of the full phrase go to bed, and should be explained in a usage note at bed. (There are several other such place nouns, by the way, such as home, work, school, class, camp, hospital, etc., though some of these only behave this way in certain dialects.) —Ruakh_TALK 21:41, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

• Keep, one can "go to the shop" without intending to buy anything, but to "go to bed" implies getting into the bed and planning to sleep. Kappa 15:20, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

I got to side with the anarchist on this one, delete it. Why don't we just start adding any old sentence; get out of here, feel the burn, that's a foul, I got axle slipped, oh what the hell. 24.210.206.251 01:55, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

Keep. It may appear purely sum of its parts, but when you try to translate it into other languages, it’s actually not so straightforward. In Spanish, we say acostarse (not "ir a cama"). In Japanese, 寝る (neru) or 寝付く (netsuku) (not 寝床へ行きます). Portuguese is closer to the English, saying ir para cama, and in German you can actually say zu Bett gehen. This is an idiomatic term. —Stephen 02:51, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

I am amused that out of the random phrases 24.210.206.251 picked, get out of here exists. — Beobach972 03:01, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

As for keep vs delete, I am ambivalent. Certainly the sense that bd2412 suggests should be added and kept, as it is idiomatic. — Beobach972 03:01, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

Strong keep. Idiomatic, not just pragmatic, as it does not mean "go to the bed", and also syntactically awkward, like "go home". If "go to your bed" had been nominated instead then I would have voted delete. DAVilla 18:09, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

(But ‘go to your bed’ is what you'd say in Scottish English...) As for this, I am not a fan of entries which are there purely to allow for translations but which in English have a very obvious meaning. But this is so common that I can see some value in it, so weak keep. Widsith 11:20, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

Keep. There are two idiomatic uses here: (1) to begin a period of sleep, (2) to have sex. Neither of these meanings is carried by the simple words that make up this phrase. Of the other "go to X" phrases mentioned above, I would regard most as simple uses of the verb go. In particular, go to class, go to school, go to camp, go to university, go to church, etc. are all specific senses of the verb go. In each case, the following prepositional phrase includes the name of a location or organization which is both a physical place as well as an organization or institution that may be attended on a regular basis and in which membership may be held. There are thus actually two senses of the verb go in these uses. The first sense is evident in "Jim's not here; he's already gone to school". This is a general sense in which go denotes physical movement toward a particular destination. The second is evident in "Where did you go to school?" This is a different sense, pertaining to regular attendance over a period of time. Since each of these meanings are visible as part of a general pattern in which the verb is followed by a prepositional phrase indicating a location/organization, the meaning is inherent in the verb go rather than in each specific phrase.

By contrast, go to bed has no analogs in which bed is replaced by another noun. It is therefore an idiomatic phrase rather than an idiomatic sense of go. The other other potentially idiomatic phrase mentioned above is go to the store. However, in this case I think the implication of what is meant is more straightforward, since there are not two possible idiomatic meanings but only one implication. Compare with go to bed, which has two. I see that go to work has three senses, including one that is not carried by the usual go. However, we cannot simply give one of the idiomatic uses, we must give them all or leave the user with the impression that the other senses are not possible in English. --EncycloPetey 03:27, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

Delete by the way. --Connel MacKenzie 11:13, 1 July 2007 (UTC)