Forum:One of the only

A request was put on my talk page by a user who refuses to register an account and never has the same IP. Thus, as the issue has been raised in another forum thread, the most expedient way of answering him or her is probably to start a forum thread.

Here's the complaint:


 * In several articles, I've noticed the phrase "one of the only". This is bad English. In every case I've encountered, the intended meaning is obviously "one of the few". From a quick Google search, there are about 1440 articles containing "one of the only", so I'm not going to try correcting this solecism manually.


 * Please note: My IP address changes frequently, so there's no point leaving a response on my User talk page -- it won't be mine for more than an hour or two. --78.146.177.102talk to me 09:33, October 22, 2012 (UTC)

And here's the response.


 * I plan to take no bot action. I disagree that it is bad English.  Although it may not literally parse, it is idiomatic and in common use, as explained here, here, here and here — and as seen in prominent print here, here and here.


 * I agree there are grammarians about who really don't like this phrase. Apparently the current style manual of National Geographic tells its writers to avoid the phrase. But it's been around since at least 1770, is in completely common use, and the only argument against it is that it doesn't parse literally.  To me, that's no big deal, since idioms generally don't parse literally.  If I say, "One of the only bad things about Ark in Space is the bubble wrap monsters," the meaning isn't obscure.  15:34: Sun 28 Oct 2012


 * I wanted to throw in two more reference points that I've encountered over my morning coffee. This article doesn't argue that "one of the only" is an idiom, but rather that it actually has a semantic difference to "one of the few".  In my own personal sense of English, I think I'd tend to agree that there is a subtle but important difference between "one of the few" and "one of the only".  But I think it is also best understood as an idiom rather than a simple, denotative phrase.


 * Meanwhile, this article cogently explains that only doesn't have to mean "one", but rather "this and no more". It can be plural, as in the case of, "These are my only sticks of gum".  The entire denotative argument against "one of the only" is that only is strictly singular.  Since only can in fact be plural, however, the "strict grammarian" argument against the phrase fails.   17:43: Sun 28 Oct 2012