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[Lombro2]

No average person is going to use "one off" as unique. They're going to use it as an "aberration".

Almost no not-so-average, published writer is going to use "one of" as an aberration. He uses it as unique because he's not in the business of selling "aberrations".

That's apparently the way it's been for over 100 years. It's a subtle difference but it's there.

ab·er·ra·tion

1. a departure from what is normal, usual, or expected, typically one that is unwelcome.

Reboot would be a good example. It was here long before PCs. Now you'd have to check every computer specialist's diary to see who, if anyone, came up with "reboot my blank". It's not technically a restart as in the way it is used mostly today. Restart is just turning it back on or off and on.

[Herlock Sholmes]

No average person is going to use "one off" as unique. They're going to use it as an "aberration".

Almost no not-so-average, published writer is going to use "one of" as an aberration. He uses it as unique because he's not in the business of selling "aberrations".

That's apparently the way it's been for over 100 years. It's a subtle difference but it's there.

ab·er·ra·tion

1. a departure from what is normal, usual, or expected, typically one that is unwelcome.

Reboot would be a good example. It was here long before PCs. Now you'd have to check every computer specialist's diary to see who, if anyone, came up with "reboot my blank". It's not technically a restart as in the way it is used mostly today. Restart is just turning it back on or off and on.

I thought we went over this weeks ago Lombro. I use "unique" as a shorthand for all the shades of meaning of "one off" to save me having to type out a string of synonyms each time.

100 years ago was 1925, so that gets you nowhere with respect to Maybrick writing the diary, but, at that stage, "one off" wasn't used by the "average person" at all. It was a manufacturing term only, not one in common use in the English language. It didn't suggest an aberration at all at that time. It was a reference to a single, unique manufactured product, pattern or job. As has been demonstrated many times, it only entered common usage in the English language after the Second World War when the type of use by "the average person" that you're thinking of commenced.

Will this ever sink in Lombro?