On Sun, 29 Jun 2008 03:22:43 -0700 (PDT), Paul
<paulmathewmac@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>On 27 Jun, 23:31, Leon <l...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> Molly Mockford wrote:
>> > Either of those could be "I am working on" if the work one was doing
was
>> > that of an architect or a builder.
>>
>> Yeah, I guess in that case the shop would be the object of your work
instead
>> of the place you work in, actually you could work on the shop without
>> being in the shop, couldn't you?
>>
>> >>> I work __ a flowers stall at the market.
>> >>I would say "on a flower stall" (note, not 'flowers') but 'at' is
>> >>possible.
>> > However, it's fairly unlikely that anybody would be employed to do
such
>> > work - it's usually sole-trader territory. Therefore, "I run a
flower
>> > stall", or even "I have a flower stall", would be more likely.
>>
>> I'm watching an episode of Sugar Rush, a British TV series, and Sugar
>> says:
>>
>> I dunno kiz, how am I ever gonna get
>> anywhere earning the minimum wage
>> *on* a ****ing candyfloss stall?
>> It's a joke. My life's a joke.
>> When am I gonna get a break?
>>
>> That's why I asked the question :)
>
>You could be working for the person who owns / runs the flower stall.
>In which case, ' I work in a flower stall' or 'I work at the flower
>stall' seem to me to be the best alternatives. 'I work on a farm'
>would be appropriate because the farm is an open space, but the flower
>stall, I guess will have a roof above it and hence 'on' a flower stall
>sounds tricky.
Only rarely can I speak on any topic with authority but I used to run
a market stall. There were two busy flower stalls at our usual market,
both using employees to help run them. Many other stalls also employed
people. Both there and at all other markets I attended, _everybody_
used "on" to refer to those engaged in running the stall, whether as
owners or employees.
There's not much logic to English prepositions and "on" has much wider
application than physical position. At a market, either "in" or (more
commonly) "at" would be used for geographical location of people (or
"on" if it literally meant standing on the roof).
I don't think the usage is any different for a volunteer running a
stall at a fete ("She's on the tombola") or for a person working at a
particular part of a shop ("He's on the cosmetics counter today"). It
seems to be a meaning of "on" in its own right - at least in informal
contexts where there's no likelihood of ambiguity.
--
Phil C.
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