These Ones vs. These

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Nancy calling from Juneau, Alaska.

Well, welcome, Nancy. What’s up?

Well, I had a funny moment. I have a yarn shop here in Juneau,

And the other day I had a customer that was really interested in my unique supply of buttons,

And I said, well, if you’re looking for unique buttons, you should check out these ones.

And she said, where are you from?

And kind of caught me off guard a little bit.

And then I realized she was referring to the phrase these ones, and she thought it was incorrect.

And so I want to know what you guys think about that.

Are you from Juneau?

Yeah.

Well, Nancy, tell us about those buttons.

These ones?

Yeah, those ones.

Well, they’re porcelain buttons that are made by a lady here in Juneau.

And they’re really cool because she takes shells and makes molds out of them

And then makes the buttons out of those molds and glazes them, and they’re one of a kind.

Well, how cool is that? They sound wonderful.

Yeah.

So you were showing this customer these wonderful, unique buttons,

And she got all bent out of shape because you told her to look at these ones?

Well, did she get bent, or did she just get a little questioning?

She just was commenting on my use of the language.

What do you think, Martha?

Nancy, I think that’s outrageous.

I really do.

Don’t you agree?

Well, she bought the buttons.

Well, I don’t know if indignance is called for here.

It’s just I think that it’s an interesting little language phenomenon that perhaps deserves to be remarked upon.

That’s all.

Well, okay.

But you say she did buy the buttons?

Yeah.

Okay.

Good.

All right.

So you’re quite a saleswoman then.

She likes her language.

You have A Way with Words.

Okay, so you had a happy ending there.

I did, but I don’t say these ones anymore.

I stop and say these and have an abrupt stop because I don’t want to be incorrect.

Okay, let me run a couple phrases by you, Nancy, and see if these sound okay, all right?

All right.

She was 92 when she passed away.

She is missed by her loved ones.

Does one sound weird there?

No.

Okay, what about this one?

I like those automobiles over there.

And then the dealer says, which ones are you talking about?

Which ones?

I like these automobiles.

Which ones?

It sounds okay.

Yeah.

So ones can actually be a plural in those two sentences, and it sounds all right, doesn’t it?

Yeah.

And you have one with an S on the end making it a plural.

And that’s kind of what we’re leading up to here is these ones actually is okay.

Because what it does is it over-specifies the these.

You can say these.

It’s totally fine to say these.

But if you say, for example, in reference to cars, I think these are all lemons, you might mean all of the cars of that type, even the ones that aren’t present.

But if you say, I think these ones are all lemons, you might mean just the very cars that are in front of you.

And maybe when you and she were talking, you have a store full of stuff, yarn and needles and buttons and all kinds of things that can be made into sweaters and scarves and socks and wonderful things to keep you warm at night, right?

So you were specifying the very buttons in front of you.

You were being very specific.

These ones.

And it’s a valid use of English.

It does sound a little weird, but we have many other places in English where we use the word ones in that way.

Yeah, I feel like it’s an adopted pet peeve that people just think they’re supposed to be upset about it.

And so they responded to some adopted pet peeve ad or went to the Pet Peeve Rescue League or something.

You know, they just don’t.

I mean, what’s there to get exercised about?

Another thing, a lot of people, have you heard of felting?

They’ll knit something with wool and then wash it and it felts.

Oh, right.

People make bags like that and then just, like, accessorize it with one of these ones.

One of these ones.

Yeah, yeah.

That sounds totally normal.

And, by the way, you do have Alaskan vowels.

Really?

What do they sound like?

They sound homey and friendly and like we could have a really long conversation.

Well, all right.

You know what I’m saying, Nancy?

Some voices make you feel comfortable, and you’ve got a comfortable, good voice.

Well, thank you.

If I have another problem, I’ll call you and we can talk again.

Okay.

Please do.

And if I’m in Juneau, I’m going to come by your yarn store and find out about those buttons.

You better.

Sounds good.

Take care.

Take care.

Thanks a lot.

All right.

Bye-bye.

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