Talk:one in a million

Part of speech

I've changed the part of speech for the current sole entry for this phrase from "noun" to "adjective". Technically it's an adjectival phrase, but I'll let the more frequent editors decide if this should be made clear. One might be tempted to think it's a noun phrase because of the word "one", specifying "a person, place, or thing", but any use of this phrase, as far as I can see at the moment, is a qualifier or descriptor of a noun; i.e., an adjective. Consider:

• She's one in a million. (Like she's beautiful; "beautiful" is an adjective.)
• One in a million you. (From Larry Graham's 1980 hit "One in a Million You"; clearly used as an adjectival phrase.)

~ Jeff Q (talk) 19:33, 9 October 2010 (UTC)

thousand

Chambers 1908 also has one in a thousand and one of a thousand, with the same meaning. Equinox ◑ 21:24, 5 May 2019 (UTC)