Learn English – These ones/those ones/the other ones

colloquialismsformalitypronouns

I came across the following sentence:

This is the only type of command that requires us to complete by a certain time – all of the other ones aren't governed by exclusion logic.

I am intrigued by the use of the word "ones" to indicate "a subset" or "a group."

Since the sentence could be rewritten to eliminate the use of "ones," I'm inclined to think that "other(s)" and "ones" are somehow related/redundant:

This is the only type of command that requires us to complete by a certain time – none of the others are governed by exclusion logic.

The use of "ones" seems very informal and colloquial to me – where did it originate?
Is it unique to English, or is there a similar construct in other languages?

Best Answer

From: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/one

one O.E. an , from P.Gmc. *ainaz (cf. O.N. einn , Dan. een , O.Fris. an , Du. een , Ger. ein , Goth. ains ), from PIE *oinos (cf. Gk. oinos "ace (on dice)," L. unus "one," O.Pers. aivam , O.C.S. -inu, ino- , Lith. vienas , O.Ir. oin , Breton un "one"). Originally pronounced as it still is in only, and in dial. good 'un, young 'un , etc.; the now-standard pronunciation "wun" began c.14c. in southwest and west England (Tyndale, a Gloucester man, spells it won in his Bible translation), and it began to be general 18c. Use as indefinite pronoun influenced by unrelated Fr. on and L. homo . Slang one-arm bandit "a type of slot machine" is recorded by 1938. One-night stand is 1880 in performance sense; 1963 in sexual sense. One of the boys "ordinary amiable fellow" is from 1893. One-track mind is from 1927.

In French, on means "he" or "it" (I think).

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