Graham, I'm a young folkity and you can think of me as your friendly guide to the English

language.

Today, I'll answer a listener question about the phrases, these ones and those ones, and

I'll have a meeting about some Irish phrases to get you ready for St. Patrick's Day.

Here's the listener question.

Yes, my name is James Paul Jarrett Jr.

I'm going to have a question.

It was several years ago, my son is in the out 33, but when he was in elementary school,

I started hearing the kids use the phrase, these ones and those ones.

And that doesn't sound right to me.

It should be that one or those over there, not those ones, but I've heard other people

use the phrase, these ones and those ones.

Is that now acceptable, English, or even used?

Because I do hear, particularly, I think younger people use it.

And I'm old enough to remember when they used to say, ain't in the dictionary, although

it's your word that it really is.

But anyway, that's my question.

Thanks for the question.

You aren't the first person to complain about these ones and those ones sounding wrong,

and I'm sure you won't be the last.

So you're not alone, but there's actually no real rule against using those phrases,

except that sometimes they're redundant and redundancy can bother people.

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