John Hall    726465 Thu, 30 Oct 03 07:12 PM Our CBC has let me down again. After hearing "Canada is one of the only countries to..." on the twelve o'clock news, my peeve detector/processor kicked in, and I didn't hear what it is we're doing or not doing. John W Hall (Email Removed) Cochrane, Alberta, Canada. "Helping People Prosper in the Information Age" John Hall Countries, United States

	MC    726539 Thu, 30 Oct 03 07:37 PM "Our CBC has let me down again. After hearing "Canada is one of the only countries to..." on the twelve o'clock news, my peeve detector/processor kicked in, and I didn't hear what it is we're doing or not doing." I'm not sure what the objection is. If I say "Canada, France and Upper Volta are the only countries I've never visited," is that OK? And if it is, why can't I say "Canada is one of the only countries I've never visited"? MC Countries, United States, France

	Quentin Burward    726551 Thu, 30 Oct 03 07:37 PM John Hall at (Email Removed) says in (Email Removed): "Our CBC has let me down again. After hearing "Canada is one of the only countries to..." on the twelve o'clock news, my peeve detector/processor kicked in, and I didn't hear what it is we're doing or not doing." The Australian Broadcasting (amateurish to the Core)poration is another broadcasting outfit that keeps the venerable "one of the only" style in its armory of ways to repel a prospective audience. But I have it on good authority that if a habit of speech or writing exists , no matter how illogical or distracting it is, then it should be regarded as being no less valid than any other habit of speech or writing. Quentin Burward. Quentin Burward Countries, United States, Speaking, Speeches, Styles

	John Hall    726571 Thu, 30 Oct 03 07:55 PM "Our CBC has let me down again. After hearing "Canada ... didn't hear what it is we're doing or not doing." "I'm not sure what the objection is. If I say "Canada, France and Upper Volta are the only countries I've never visited," is that OK?" That has my Seal of Approval. "And if it is, why can't I say "Canada is one of the only countries I've never visited"?" What is the meaning of 'only' in this case? Why not 'One of the few' or 'one of the three'? I can't pin down exactly which language rule is being broken, but I know when I smell a break. John W Hall (Email Removed) Cochrane, Alberta, Canada. "Helping People Prosper in the Information Age" John Hall Countries, United States, France, Languages

	Joe Fineman    726728 Thu, 30 Oct 03 10:45 PM "One of the only..." doesn't break any language rules; it just contains a superfluous word, viz. "only". You are one of the only countries to do thus & so if & only if you are one of the countries to do thus & so. There is nothing in the sentence for "only" to limit or emphasize. I suspect that this solecism is a blend of "The only country" & "One of the few countries". In "Canada is the only country that..." and "Canada & the U.S. are the only countries that...", "only" is semantically superfluous in that the "the" suffices to exclude other countries; but "only" adds some (usually welcome) emphasis. But with "one of the" there is no uniqueness to emphasize. Joe Fineman (Email Removed) Joe Fineman Sentences, Countries, United States, Languages

	Jerry Friedman    726814 Thu, 30 Oct 03 11:21 PM "Our CBC has let me down again. After hearing "Canada ... didn't hear what it is we're doing or not doing." "The Australian Broadcasting (amateurish to the Core)poration is another broadcasting outfit that keeps the venerable "one of the only" style ... it is, then it should be regarded as being no less valid than any other habit of speech or writing." Valid in what sense? I'll bet no one has told you that if a habit of speech or writing exists, you should regard it as good style or clear exposition. I'm not a good authority. Nonetheless, I'm going to share my opinion with you (or inflict it on you). "One of the only" (countries, etc.) is an established idiom for "one of the few". As far as I remember, I've heard and read it mostly from journalists. I think it sucks ugly and I intend never to use it. Jerry Friedman Jerry Friedman Regards, Idioms, Countries, United States, Speaking, Speeches, Styles

	David McMurray    726860 Thu, 30 Oct 03 11:45 PM "Our CBC has let me down again. After hearing "Canada is one of the only countries to..." on the twelve o'clock news, my peeve detector/processor kicked in, and I didn't hear what it is we're doing or not doing." "...ban the sterilization of people who say things such as 'my peeve detector/processor kicked in." David McMurray Countries, United States

	Ben Zimmer    726887 Thu, 30 Oct 03 11:59 PM Precisely what it means in MC's first sentence, i.e.: OED2: "One (or, by extension, two or more), of which there exist no more, or no others, of the kind." Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=55490&dict=CALD&desc=only "used to show that there is a single one or very few of something, or that there are no others" Infoplease Dictionary: http://www.infoplease.com/ipd/A0567027.html "being the single one or the relatively few of the kind" Literary usages: "From one of the only two windows on the ground floor which were not boarded up came rays of light..." Thomas Hardy, "A Pair of Blue Eyes" "Your cruelty has destroyed one of the only creatures in existence that would look on me with kindness!" Walter Scott, "The Black Dwarf" "I slept in one of the only two berths in the vessel..." Edgar Allen Poe, "The Premature Burial" "Mrs. Rick was the only white woman on the island, and one of the only two in the archipelago." Robert Louis Stevenson, "In the South Seas" "Well, then, there's been a big fight, and I'm one of the only chaps who know about it so far." PG Wodehouse, "The Gold Bat" Ben Zimmer Sentences, Countries, United Kingdom, Great Britain, Colours, Usages

	CyberCypher    726905 Fri, 31 Oct 03 12:21 AM on 31 Oct 2003: "Our CBC has let me down again. After hearing "Canada is one of the only countries to..." on the twelve o'clock news, my peeve detector/processor kicked in, and I didn't hear what it is we're doing or not doing." We recently had a long discussion about this very topic in AUE, so I doubt that many of the regular posters here are willing to go through it all again. If I remember correctly, we are hopelessly split on this issue, as we are on so many others of equal import. There are those who agree with you and insist that it is a solecism and those who insist that regardless of that meaningless "only" verbosity couch-potatoing away to the right of center, "it is the way the language is used and must be accepted as an idiom". 'Nuff said. CyberCypher Idioms, Countries, United States, Languages