# Why "to" instead of "with" or "in"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 3, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-to-instead-of-with-or-in/570048 "2011-02-03T17:19:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-to-instead-of-with-or-in/570048/1 "2011-02-03T17:19:47Z")
I don’t bake a pizza “to the” oven. I don’t save money “to the bank”. So, why the “print to” and “save to” in computerspeak? Wouldn’t “print with” and “save in” work as well? ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-to-instead-of-with-or-in/570048/2 "2011-02-03T17:26:26Z")
You’re sending a file from your screen _to_ a printer or _to_ a drive. It implies movement from one place to another. However I also hear “save in” a certain directory or folder quite often when a location is specified. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-to-instead-of-with-or-in/570048/3 "2011-02-03T17:27:23Z")
People do say “Save it in this folder,” don’t they? ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-to-instead-of-with-or-in/570048/4 "2011-02-03T17:27:54Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > I don’t bake a pizza “to the” oven. I don’t save money “to the bank”. So, why the “print to” and “save to” in computerspeak? Wouldn’t “print with” and “save in” work as well? No, but you would call in an order “to” the pizza place for delivery or transfer funds “to” your bank account. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-to-instead-of-with-or-in/570048/5 "2011-02-03T17:42:27Z")
I say we get rid of all of those terms and replace them with “amongst.” ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-to-instead-of-with-or-in/570048/6 "2011-02-03T18:00:45Z")
Folders and printers are designated places (e.g., a spot on a drive or place on a desk). You can save an item to a folder (send it to that folder, or that place on a drive), but people do say, “Which folder is it in?”. This issue isn’t exclusive to computer talk. I am always told to get on the plane, or say “I am on the plane”, but I don’t think I’ve ever been told to get in it. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-to-instead-of-with-or-in/570048/7 "2011-02-03T18:58:53Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > I am always told to get on the plane, or say “I am on the plane”, but I don’t think I’ve ever been told to get in it. Obligatory George Carlin reference. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-to-instead-of-with-or-in/570048/8 "2011-02-03T19:50:06Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > You’re sending a file from your screen _to_ a printer or _to_ a drive. It implies movement from one place to another. This is what I would have said, except that the place where you’re sending the file _from_ is the memory, not the screen. The screen/monitor isn’t where the file exists, it’s where the CPU displays the file. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-to-instead-of-with-or-in/570048/9 "2011-02-03T20:02:08Z")
Yep. _Sending_ the file to a printer or drive sounds fine. It’s _saving_ a file _to_ a drive or folder or _printing to_ a particular printer that just sounds strange. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-to-instead-of-with-or-in/570048/10 "2011-02-03T20:18:39Z")
What happens when you print a file? One way to think of it is that the computer **sends** the file **to** a printer, and then the printer prints it. We do say that we **move** a file from one folder **to** another, or **copy** from one folder **to** another. To **save to** or **print to** may be analogous to that. (In the days of MS-DOS, IIRC, one of the ways to get a printout of a file was to COPY the file **to** the printer.) ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-to-instead-of-with-or-in/570048/11 "2011-02-03T20:21:09Z")
Well, how has _“to”_ been used in computer speak and programming language. “Go to”, “send to”, “jump to”… “save to”… etc? Makes more sense with that context. . ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-to-instead-of-with-or-in/570048/12 "2011-02-03T20:22:38Z")
I predict this thread will end with a preposition. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-to-instead-of-with-or-in/570048/13 "2011-02-03T20:28:32Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Yep. _Sending_ the file to a printer or drive sounds fine. It’s _saving_ a file _to_ a drive or folder or _printing to_ a particular printer that just sounds strange. Anything can sound strange if you think about it hard enough. Idiomatic usages are, almost by definition, not necessarily going to make logical sense. FWIW, you can easily replace _to_ with other prepositions in those constructs: “Save that file _to_ the ‘Team’ folder so everyone can see it” can easily become “Save that file _in_ the ‘Team’ folder …” and “Gertie, please print that document _to_ the printer in my office, since Della’s not here today” can be “Gertie, please print that document _on_ the printer…” Also, consider that a lot of early computer work was not done on PCs but on dumb terminals remotely attached to (oops) minicomputers and mainframes which may have been in another room, on another floor, or in another building. When the actual storage and/or printing device you’re using is far away from you, the use of “to” to suggest travel isn’t quite so strange. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-to-instead-of-with-or-in/570048/14 "2011-02-03T20:30:06Z")
I don’t think so, sir. I hadn’t thought of all the programming tos. Sounds like an explanation to me.