I really hate the word "ones".

by schnell 15 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  schnell

  Necessary as it is at times, I hate this word. For one thing, "ones" is a plural form of the number 1. That is dumb, and it's reason enough to avoid it where it isn't entirely necessary.

  One could argue that it never is necessary, but it can still come up in colloquial dialogue when discussing objects. JW leaders use it to discuss people.

  Interestingly, JWs even did this to Jesus Christ in their own translation of the Bible, referring to him in Ephesians 1:7 with "through the blood of that one" where another translation would say something like "through his blood". Why do they insist upon the neuter object reference?

  I don't like it. It's tied too closely with cult indoctrination for me. The word takes all the soul and personality and individuality away in favor of identifying every person as what is truly the loneliest number.
• 

  rebel8

  ITA

  It is weird in-group language--a telltale sign of a cult.
  

  "one of jehovahs witlesses">>>who says that about any other religion? Let's see:

  • "I'm one of Catholics." NOPE
  • "I'm one of Hindus." NOPE
  • "I'm one of Baptists." NOPE
    
• 

  schnell

  Granted, that "one of" business is due to grammar, but I'm sure it's also to give a sense that you're part of a bigger group as well. Surely, "Jehovah witness", as dumb as it sounds, is just as valid as the official grammatical nightmare.
• 

  Simon

  Ha, it's true - the more you think about it, the more the grammar grates on you because it's just WRONG.

  See Jehovah's Witnesses Crime Against Grammar
  
• 

  Pete Zahut

  I always thought Jehovah's Witness was such a dumb name for a religion. It has two parts to it and because of the apostrophe at the end of Jehovah you almost have to use something in front of the term to make it work. You can say I am Catholic, I am Presbyterian, I am Mormon but you can't say I am Jehovah Witness and have it sound right.
  

  Also JW's love the term "one's"....Interested ones...New ones...Newly baptized ones...I'm going to ask a few of the different ones over for dinner.

  It seems quite cringeworthy and cult-like to me now.
  
• 

  schnell

  "Discouraged ones." This misnomer is the set of all people put off by JW nonsense. I'm not discouraged in any way. I have no guilt or "hurt feelings". No, my fee-fees are perfectly in tact, thank you very much, because I'm free to be honest now.

  "I am not a number, I am a free man."

  https://youtu.be/Yfk5-y_pYac
  
  
• 

  Wasanelder Once

  I despise when people say, "I'll have one of these ones." My reaction to the redundancy makes me a total snob but, so it goes.
  
• 

  Acluetofindtheuser

  I also hate it when the literature reads as, "these ones". This is improper English. These implies ones. These word combinations are always being used in talks all over the states.
  
• 

  Bobcat

  Where I grew up (NE US) we would say "yins" which (I think) is a contraction of "you ones," which has its counterpart in the south, "ya'll." It was a colloquial thing along with "gum band."
• 

  tepidpoultry

  Oh I'm sorry,

  I thought you said:

  I really hate the WEIRD "ones"

  I was writing to complain

  Disregard