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What are some synonyms for right in the/at the?

e.g.

Get milk right at your doorstep.

Watch movies right in your tablet.

Or, alternatively, what are some synonyms for "itself"?

e.g.

Get milk at your doorstep itself.

Watch moves in your tablet itself.

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  • Also milk at your very doorstep, which is an odd construction because very can modify a noun. They all mean to emphasize the closeness and convenience of what's being discussed. It's like "pizza in your own home" (like you own several, only one of which is your "own"). Idioms, the lot.
    – John Lawler
    May 16, 2015 at 17:57
  • @JohnLawler so how can we best put it.... like i am trying to show how convenient it would be for using this.... eg ' VLC player - watch movies right in ur tablet'...is there a better way to put forth it, because it could also be read as 'watch movies right'....'in ur tablet'
    – user1002782
    May 16, 2015 at 18:13
  • I find your "right in your iPad" construction very odd. More so than milk "right at (on?) your doorstep", perhaps because having milk delivered is not the prime function of a doorstep, whereas the iPad is largely about movies anyway. Would you say that the maitre d' showed you right to your table? That the plane flew right to the airport? (What else would it do, god forbid?)
    – David Pugh
    May 16, 2015 at 18:48
  • It's tricky with E-terminology because everything is a metaphor; there were no English words for anything electronic before 1940, so we've plundered every metaphoric connection available, and you can't tell, for instance, whether in (for containers) or on (for surfaces) is appropriate for whatever image the reader is using. Something can be on the radio, TV, a list, a poster, a schedule, a hard disk, for instance, or in a file, a book, a paper, an article, a podcast, a computer.
    – John Lawler
    May 16, 2015 at 19:08
  • Right 'on' your tablet is possibly a slightly better construction than 'in'.
    – Resquiens
    May 17, 2015 at 14:38

2 Answers 2

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Milk delivered...on your doorstep:

also at your doorstep
very near to you

Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2003.

Movies delivered on your IPad is slightly more popular than movies delivered to your IPad. It seems an IPad is sometimes viewed like a television or radio with the preposition on, and sometimes like a location with the preposition to. But Movies delivered in your IPad is not popular at all.

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The idium is referring to things happening more quickly or directly - no middle man or travelling required so it is simple and easy.

While i can see this is the meaning you are trying to use, for your example "Watch movies right in your tablet" i don't think it works as you are not watching movies IN your tablet - technically the movie may be "inside" the computer, but you are not WATCHING it inside.

This raises a further question regarding whether you want to emphasise the watching or the receiving. What you are actually talking about is the fact that you RECEIVE the movie directly (with no need to leave the house, as per your original indium), with the "watching" part being irrelevant.

For this reason, i would use "receive movies directly to your tablet" but I assume your intent is to be catchy and aim for marketing as well, so this may need to be reworked, but for the purposes of correct usage of words i believe this phrasing is more accurate.

Also, @ScotM Good response. Tablets can be both a device to receive as well as to view, so a movie could be "delivered to" or "viewed on" the tablet, depending in whether the emphasis is on the watching or the receiving.

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  • u r the one who gave me a close enough answer...maybe my next question should be 'catchy words for marketing.. emphasizing convenience'
    – user1002782
    May 21, 2015 at 18:25

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