Date:  Mon, 10 Nov 1997 07:23:08 -0500
From:  Jim Crotty <Monkmag[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: one as a pronoun?

In a message dated 11/9/97 5:13:14 PM, you wrote:

<<After reading 72 freshmen papers I find myself facing: "One finds many
points
in common..." in nearly every one. I hate this construction. I especially
hate it when it's reflexive: "when one asks oneself what one's position
is..." Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage tells us it is 'usually
the mark of a formal style,' but I find myself wanting to tell my students
not to use it ever, because it sounds stiff and unnatural. In other words, my
Sprachgefuehl tells me people don't use it in informal speech, and formal
speech that deviates too much from informal speech doesn't set well. My
question is- what's the current feeling on this construction, in writing and
in speech? I know some people use it in conversational styles, but is it
only PhDs? It sounds foreign to me.  German, 'man,' French 'on,' but not
English.>>

I distinctly remember "one" being used by the English in England. I started
using it after I returned from my Junior Year Abroad at the University of
Sussex. So maybe we should make it a condition upon reentry that one cannot
use "one" if "one" expects to be received as a normal, freethinking,
relentlessly informal American. All those who fail the "one" test at customs
will be remanded to the San Fernando Valley for reindoctrination.

Jim Crotty
How To Talk American
monkmag[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]aol.com
www.monk.com