I was eating a pot of yoghurt yesterday which said “vanilla yoghurt with fruit on the bottom”.
I doubt that is wrong as such (which is also why I didn’t post it in GQ), but does anything think it sounds clunky or perhaps a bit childish somehow? My intuitive preference would be “vanilla yoghurt with fruit at the bottom”.
I’m not a native English speaker and would be curious to know what you think.
Ai ai, it’s the curse of the language related post.
Anyone.
:smack:
I can’t see anything wrong with ‘at’ as opposed to what?.. ‘in’?
P.S. You should read the packets of nik-naks. Deliberately aimed at children. take the ingredients for instance, they are titled “what makes it stink”
I think “at” more accurately conveys the idea that the fruit is underneath the yogurt. “On the bottom” almost makes it sound as if the fruit is tacked to the bottom of the cup on the outside (though I doubt anyone would take that meaning).
When I really think about it, I agree. At is better. But only slightly better; it hardly makes any difference at all.
It’s nothing to do with grammar, and all to do with meaning:
“…fruit at the bottom (of the yoghurt)”
vs
“…fruit on the bottom (of the pot)”
However, IMO, neither sounds more or less clunky.
YodaGrammar 
You mean either
vanilla yoghurt with fruit on the bottom [of the pot]
or
vanilla yoghurt with fruit at the bottom [of the yoghurt]
My god, great minds think alike.
One of the traits of English is it’s [over]simplification.
Both can be said but on the bottom is the preferred idiomatic form.
I had a devil of a time trying to translate similar sentences like this to German.