Update: thank you everyone! user @Today has provided a great link of a discussion that suggests the correct answer is where being an abbreviation of, whereas as a replacement of since, hypothesized in these comments.
As I love archaic definitions, I’m more convinced to now that this is the answer!
Especially since the question originates from one weirdo using “where” instead of since.
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/338694/is-it-ever-appropriate-to-use-where-instead-of-because-or-since
Like “Where we knew he was heading to Chicago tomorrow, we got on the first plane heading east to intercept.”
“Where we knew where the safe was, we began to cut through the wall in the corner behind her desk.”
Thanks
It sounds like maybe something that comes out of legal jargon to my ears (disclaimer, I am no lawyer or anything of the sort, most of my understanding of lawyer talk comes from tv shows and movies which are not usually the most accurate)
I could kind of imagine some sort of statement beginning with something like “Where the defendant, having been…” followed by some descriptions of circumstances and legal precedents and such.
U.S. born and raised. I’ve traveled a moderate amount and have literally never heard this (most of time spent in Mid-Atlantic, Gulf Coast, and Southwest)
Okay, thanks
I’ve never heard them be interchangeable. Grew up in the NE US, PA, NY, FL, and MA.
I’ve spent most of the last twenty years in the Midwest, and can’t think of a single example.
The outlier would be very, very careful instructions - likely written - organized in an if/then fashion which is a totally different use case:
- Where the coffee machine is empty and the old filter abd grounds have been removed…
- Where the coffee machine is empty but the used filter and grounds are still present… (add step to deal with that case)
- Where the moron before you forgot to turn off the burner after emptying the carafe…
“Since” wouldn’t fit, at least without changing the instructions after the ellipsis.
And of course the classic example: “since you are up, get me a beer…” also doesn’t really work. (Apologies to some long irrelevant redneck comedian for ripping that off to make a point).
I’m trying in my head to make it fit in both casual and formal conversation, and it just won’t as far as I can tell.
Would love a counterfactual where both work!
Nosince
Haha, love this.
I feel like I’ve never heard this before, ever.
Me too. And everyone else is on the same page .
Okay, maybe this is a neighborhood thing. Or immigrant parents, something more specific and less common than general region.
“Whereas” sort of makes sense there instead of just “Where,” but even that sounds like someone trying to be formal and missing the mark.
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/652015/where-vs-whereas-how-use-each
Are these examples you made up or were they pulled from media?
It almost sounds like a shortening of “The one where…” as seen in the title of every Friend’s episode.
Is it possible that you are misusing the term in your examples? Because I’ve never heard of where being interchangeable with since.
I can relate, OP. When I was a kid, I often heard people say “on an accident” instead of “on accident” or “by accident”. Didn’t realize how odd this was until my teen years.
Sounds New England to my Appalachian ears.
