In today’s Washington Post article titled “For federal workers, anxiety over a possible shutdown", I found a strange quote of number—‘a thousand and one questions.’ I understand it’s simply an exaggerated form of ‘a lot of questions.’
However, I’m curious to know why it is 1,001, not ‘hundreds’ or ‘numerous’ or even in round number? Is it simply a trope? Is ‘big number plus one’ well-accepted usage? Can I say ‘a hundred and one’ or ‘ten thousands one question’ when I have many questions?
The number, ‘a thousand and one’, is quoted in the following sentence:
The government could shut down in a week if Congress can’t reach a budget deal. And the Obama administration hasn’t told workers what a shutdown would look like — who will be asked to come to work and who will be told to stay home. Rank-and-file federal workers have a thousand and one questions. Kane, Energy’s human resources chief, is fielding many of them.
Best Answer
This comes from the oriental stories collected in One Thousand and One Nights, also known as the Arabian Nights. It is just a well-known example of a very high number, used in various contexts; it always refers to these tales. This one-up is occasionally used with numbers other than 1000, but even then it is a reference to the tales of 1001 Nights. In any case, 1001 just means "a great many". Note the contrast with 101, which usually means "an introduction": this comes from the regularly used custom of numbering an introductory course at university The Greek Accent 101, etc.