A Linguistic Nuance That Should Go Away
I am seeing this phrase/question pop up around the Internets and slowly creeping itself into the general language.
“Am I the only one who [insert statement here]?”
Example usage:
“Am I the only one who thinks the iPhone should have copy/paste?”
“Am I the only one who thinks John McCain is running a totally negative campaign?”
“Am I the only one who wants Michael Phelps to win another 50 gold medals?”
Whenever I see this, I automatically think “whiny, self-centered bastard.” I’m sorry that you have to use the Internet to find personal affirmation of your beliefs/opinions.
Regardless of how valid your intended expression may be, or how right you may be about a certain topic, here’s my answer:
“Yes, you are. Now shut up and go away.”
I think I am going to develop a plugin that blocks all instances of this phrase. I think I can do it with regex.