These ones...

[Katisha]

I have just found out that saying "these ones" is howlingly incorrect. I suppose all you lot in the corner knew this...Ah well.

Well really LL, don't you know it's because it separates us and them (these and those)

This should clear it up.

yo no soy marinero soy capitan

Stop speaking Russian.

Ooo, this is a pet peeve of mine. One of many

These. Or those.

Ex has taught DS these ones

and, even worse, "Here you go"

I tried to change to WandaingTrolley but it looks soooo wrong. I couldn't countenance WandaringTrolley, people would think I couldn't spell

UnderRated - as I have only learned of my error in this usage this evening, (pointing out some cranberry truffles I had made to DH and saying look at these ones...) WHY is it wrong?

No one liked me hypothesis of 19:15:53?

DH echoes your hypothesis but we have been unable to back it up. (Well, googled for about 30 seconds anyway...)

Argh!
Childhood flashback!
"IT'S 'THESE', NOT 'THESE ONES' BROCCOLI"

Or how about this:

Nothing to do with it being a contraction. It's just because it is a plural.

Confronted with a single hat, you could say 'A/the hat.' Or you could just say 'Hat'. The choice is yours. This is analogous to the choice between saying 'This' or saying 'This one'.

But to refer to lots of hats you only have the option to say 'Hats'. You can't tag on an article (there is no plural form of 'a' or 'the'). This is analogous to the impermissability of saying 'These ones'.

Or is that just pants?

Oh wait a minute LL. Cross post. I will digest your post.

Ah, yes: not a contraction. I had just discovered this in my not-very-good paper etymological dictionary.

I have to keep pursuing this to stop me looking at all the chicken threads and getting broody for hens.

Say, these ones?

Hmm. This is interesting. These implies a group of individual items, so you don't actually need to add ones, and if you do add ones it doesn't change the sense.

This, on the other hand, doesn't necessarily indicate a discrete item - when used on its own it more commonly refers to a collection of items or a category. You need to add "one" to give the sense of an individual item. The exchange:

"Which chicken do you like best?"
"This"

doesn't sound right for this reason. However:

"Which chickens do you like best?"
"These"

is fine, because "these" can only mean "this group of items".

Don't know whether that makes "these ones" wrong though, just not strictly necessary.

In case you want to google, there is a general term for expressions requiring pointing -- indexicals.

I'm all pedanted out on this one. Language not rational enough. We'll have to bulldoze it and build a new one.

Yes, littlelapin, I am sure you are right. That must be an instance where "these ones" would be both necessary and correct. The "ones" serves to draw attention to the fact that there are a number of related individual items for consideration within the whole group.

I wondered about pluralising "one", but am sure it is OK. What if you only wanted the brown ones or the speckled ones?

Threadworm, did you really buy them?