On Sat, May 30, 2009 at 11:10 AM, Eldin Raigmore
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> "The next LCS conference will be at Reykjavik."

Speaking only for myself, using "at" with a city name in any context
just feels very wrong to me. I might say "I will be at the conference
in Reykjavik.", but I would never say "*I will be at Reykjavik." or
"*The conference will be at Reykjavik." In my Midwest and Pacific
Northwest American dialect the proper preposition to use with a city
name is always "in". Always.

The only exception I can think of might be "The arrow points at
Chicago." But that talks about direction, not location. I would be
more likely to say "The arrow points toward Chicago." or "The sign
points to Chicago." but "at" is O.K. in this _directional_ context. I
might, however, put a map pin _on_ Chicago OR _in_ Chicago on a map,
but even in that context "at Chicago" just doesn't have the right ring
to it, even though "Chicago-on-a-map" is not Chicago, so it's not
really Chicago I'm talking about in that case, but a dot of ink on a
piece of paper.

--gary