3 ms·
"a shambles" is not used (or quite rarely used) in North America, in my experience. Which was what the OP was asking about. You are of course right that "a sha
by umanwizard 7y ago
"a shambles" is not used (or quite rarely used) in North America, in my experience. Which was what the OP was asking about.
You are of course right that "a shambles" is perfectly fine British English, but that's beside the point.
- kps 7y agoI'm in North America and have never heard ‘in shambles’, without ‘a’. If I did, I'd probably take it as uneducated sociolect.
- umvi 7y agoFascinating. I'm guessing it's a regional thing where certain parts of the US say "in shambles" vs. "a shambles" vs. "in a shambles". Not sure how it would be measured, but I think a /r/dataisbeautiful map would be interesting to see.
- plopz 7y agoNYC here, never have heard it with an 'a'. Its always just 'in shambles'.