[Ads-l] one of the only?

[Flourish Klink]

I agree. Shockingly low standards from the Grey Lady. And I am a millennial!

On Wed, Aug 31, 2016, 5:09 PM George Thompson <george.thompson at nyu.edu>
wrote:

> From a recent obituary
> ​in the NYTimes:
> ​
> Toots Thielemans, one of the only musicians to have a successful career as
> a jazz harmonica player, died on Monday in Brussels. He was 94.
>
> ​
> I would write "​
> the only musician to have a successful career as a jazz harmonica player
> ​" or
> "​
> on
> ​e of ​
> the
> ​few ​
> musician
> ​s​
> to have a successful career as a jazz harmonica player
> ​"
>  --
> ​ ​
> no doubt because I am an old codger.​
> ​
> I believe that the first statement is true, the second the sort of waffling
> that is common in the press, leading to statements like "the Battle of
> Gettysburg is widely regarded as an important event in the Civil War", but
> that's another matter.​
>
> ​GAT
>
> ​
> George A. Thompson
> The Guy Who Still Looks Stuff Up in Books.
> Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
> Univ. Pr., 1998.
>
> But when aroused at the Trump of Doom / Ye shall start, bold kings, from
> your lowly tomb. . . .
>
> L. H. Sigourney, "Burial of Mazeen", *Poems*.  Boston, 1827, p. 112
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org