play emily brewster and one and the same text graphic

'One in the same' or 'One and the same'?

Is it all the same anyway?


Is it 'one in the same' or 'one and the same'? Senior Editor Emily Brewster explains.

Transcript

Sometimes a word that sounds like the right word and feels like the right word isn't actually the right word, it's an eggcorn. The acrobat and the farmer who are the same person aren't "one in the same," they're "one and the same." You don't have to choose between being an acrobat and a farmer. You can be one and the same.

Up next

play emily brewster and one and the same text graphic
'One in the same' or 'One and the same'?

 

Is it all the same anyway?

play image1815466723
How Do You Pronounce 'Vase'?

 

And is one way more correct than the others?

play video ending a sentence with a preposition
Ending a Sentence with a Preposition

 

An old-fashioned rule we can no longer put up with.

play sneaked vs snuck video
Sneaked vs. Snuck

 

How the irregular 'snuck' sneaked into the dictionary

play video title attorney generals
Is It 'Attorney Generals' Or 'Attorneys General'?

 

'Poets laureate'? 'Court-martials'? The curious history of postpositive adjectives in English.

play video schwa
The Schwa

 

The most common vowel sound in English causes many spelling problems.

play serenity carr next to an illustration of a refrigerator with the letter d in it
Why is there a 'd' in 'fridge' but not in 'refrigerator'?

 

Thawing one of the mysteries of English