In or on Samui

[PoorSucker]

So a grammar question, wish one do you use .

 

[Crossy]

I've always used "on" for living on an island and "in" for living in a country, town or village.

 

Of course, when the country, town or village is an island ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[55Jay]

We used to say "on" when living on Guam and Crete.  When you left, common to say I'll be "off" island. 

 

I don't know why but "in" Bahrain, this didn't seem to apply.  Maybe it was because of the causeway to Saudi.  Weird, eh?

[Samui Bodoh]

I live in Maenam on Samui.

 

Cheers

[notmyself]

On. No question

[carmine]

5 hours ago, notmyself said:

On. No question

So would an aussie live "on" Australia or as is accustomed to say "in" Australia?  Rightly or wrongly i've never heard anyone say ON.......just saying..............

[Samui Bodoh]

15 minutes ago, carmine said:

So would an aussie live "on" Australia or as is accustomed to say "in" Australia?  Rightly or wrongly i've never heard anyone say ON.......just saying..............

So would an Aussie call Australia an island?.... just saying...

Perhaps I shouldn't comment on this as I come from the island of North/Central/South America.

Cheers

[Tchooptip]

By the way PoorSucker, what did you used to say?

[VirgoSG]

Personally, I live in Samui.  But I don't think that either "in" or "on" is grammatically incorrect.

 

However, I've never heard anyone say they live "on" Phuket, or Singapore, or Tasmania, or Corsica.

 

On the other hand, although I do usually say "in Samui", if I'm being more precise, I might well say "I live on Koh Samui", or "I live on the island of Malta".  So maybe it depends if the place has "island" in the name (e.g. the Isle of Wight) or you are adding island as a descriptor

[GreasyFingers]

If someone out of the country asks of your whereabouts would you not reply "in Samui". However I use both depending on the circumstances.

[notmyself]

Much of it has to do with historical usage rather than grammatical laws or contextual inference. You wouldn't for instance say I came to Samui in the bus from Bangkok but rather on the bus from Bangkok.... . Language is not always defined by laws or rules insofar as an absolute, but often by common parlance at the time or historically so. Other examples of the lack of laws would be... Knife and fork, hot and cold, left and right or even Mr and Mrs.

 

I have heard usage of 'in' rather than 'on' from time to time over the years and have found that people who say 'in' generally use English as a second language.

 

 

[PoorSucker]

By the way PoorSucker, what did you used to say?

I use on when referring to an island (Koh), but I use in for Phuket.

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[Tchooptip]

1 hour ago, PoorSucker said:

I use on when referring to an island (Koh), but I use in for Phuket.

Sent from my Lenovo TB3-710F using Thaivisa Connect mobile app
 

I have to thank you for  dissipating a misunderstanding...

 ..I thought well intagrated expats said in Samui and macho ones said on Samui.

 Incredible how far from the truth one could be some times 

[Andrew Dwyer]

I think it should be " on " as it is an island and you would never say " in " an island ?

But probably both are acceptable as in :

" where do you live "

" I live in/on Samui "

" oh you live on an island "

Very interesting question ! and obviously I am only guessing.

What do I know ? Probably nothing !

On second thoughts forget I ever wrote this !

[Gulfsailor]

I'm 'on Samui' as it is an island implies that I'm 'in the mainland' whenever I take the ferry to Donsak... Using in or on has no logical reason to it. I ride on the bus and on the train, but in the car.