On Jul 6, 4:52*pm, "Randy Johnson" > wrote:
> On *5-Jul-2011, Chemo the Clown > wrote:
>
> > Why do people say just husband or daughter or son and not use the word
> > "my" before? You wouldn't say, I can't get dog to lie down or I lost
> > cat the other day.
>
> Why do the English say "in hospital" and USonians say "in the hospital"?

I think the British do it better, and I've adopted their idiom. If I
told you that my saffron is in the box, you would probably wonder
"which box"? Wouldn't it be more logical to report that someone is in
A hospital, rather than in THE hospital? There are three major
hospitals within a few miles of where I live in the suburbs. What
would "the hospital" mean here?

Before we were married (and for some time afterward) my wife worked
out of an office in Cornell New York Hospital. I once told a mutual
acquaintance that I would be visiting her later. Asked where, I said
"In the hospital." He knew where she worked, but I nevertheless had to
explain that she wasn't ill. From then on, "in the hospital" is a
location and "in hospital" implies patienthood.