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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Too much logic would deprive the language of such gems as:
If your father were alive, he'd be rolling over in his grave.
Shut up and listen to yourself.
A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's printed on.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
Or the ever popular "if you don't climb down from that tree, you'll fall and kill yourself, then you'll be sorry."
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
Or:
Mother; You don't love me.
Son: Of course I love you, mom.
Father: Don't contradict your mother.
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Joined: Mar 2005
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addict
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addict
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 500 |
If I can go back to "only " for a moment:
The one that annoys me is, e.g. "one of the only Canadian universities to offer this degree" when what is meant is probably "one of only a few Canadian universities to offer this degree". This morning I read that "the cat is one of the only domestic animals not mentioned in the Bible" and I was left wondering what the other only domestic animals were, and which only domestic animals (besides the cat) were not mentioned in the Bible, and then I went on to the next comic strip.....
Does this misuse bother anyone else? It seems so widespread.
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Joined: Sep 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
I think they use "only" to give the impression that there are less than a few. Few is an imprecise measure, and subject to different interpretations depending upon the reader. A few minutes for me is 5 minutes or less, to others a few may be more. Having few hairs on your head still means thousands, but having a few chocolate chip cookies is two or three. Right now, there are few leaves on the ground even though they number in the hundreds. In a few  weeks, there'll be few leaves left in the trees. When they say "one of the only" I perceive this to mean that it is in the "one or two" quantity. Well, in Canada anyway, since we don't have a slew of universities like they have in the U.S., for example. I don't mind the use. I do get antsy for more information though. Like with your domestic animals quest...what universities, how many exactly?
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Joined: Jun 2001
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 273 |
>Does this misuse bother anyone else? It seems so widespread.
No, it doesn't bother me. It's also not a misuse, in my opinion. The phrase has its own meaning, and I think BelM explained it well.
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Would you complain about someone saying, e.g., "only three domestic animals are not mentioned in the Bible"?
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Llamas? Yaks? Guinea pigs? Alcapa? Mongooses?
Bingley
Bingley
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Would you complain about someone saying, e.g., "only three domestic animals are not mentioned in the Bible"?
Only on grounds of accuracy. (cf Bingley's post)
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
accuracy
Hence the e.g.
You don't object to "only" being used in a plural context in this case why would you object to it in "one of the only …"?
Besides, do we really know how many domestic animals were not mentioned in the Bible? Regardless of what the writer of the Bible may have known, the original readers had never heard of llamas or yaks so you can't really count them.
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