Calling all nitpickers! Is saying 'my one' rather than 'mine' incorrect...

[Shoopdeedoop]

Please help me with this incredibly petty debate. This:

"I need to get a new Hoover because my one doesn't have very good suction."

As opposed to "I need to get a new Hoover because mine doesn't…"

Is the first sentence completely incorrect (grammatically speaking) or just a slightly strange turn of phrase?

It's just a strange turn of phrase, IMHO. You might want to enumerate the things your talking about, ("I need a new Hoover because my three are all worn out"; "Glad your DCs are happy at school- my two think St Custard's is dreadful") but most of the time "mine" does the job just fine, and is preferable.

I can't believe that typo I just committed.

Oh my. Pedants corner indeed when you are being a pedant about your own post!

You're right about it being a strange turn of phrase. I've only just found out that I use it - and never realised it was 'wrong'.

You say it was a petty debate, so presumably someone picked you up on saying this. I think that person is ridiculous: you were speaking (not writing a formal document, I presume), it's not ungrammatical, and it's not ambiguous, so what's the problem? Maybe "mine" is slightly easier on the ear of the listener, but that's a bit subjective.

I'm all for being picky, but it seems a shame if pedants are making people feel inhibited in their colloquial, spoken English when they are communicating perfectly capably.