I am researching places to go and things to do in South Korea. We’ve booked flights there at the end of Dec and back at the end of Jan. In fact, I ‘ve been researching since before the travel restrictions started. We were just about to book travel to South Korea and Europe.
The N TERRACE restaurant at N Seoul Tower (Namsan Tower) is
One of the few most romantic places in Korea!
Unlike one of the only places, which has its defenders but I find meaningless even as I understand what the person is trying to mean, one of the few most romantic places does make sense, mostly. There are romantic places in Korea. This is one of the romantic places in Korea. There are the most romantic places in Korea. This is one of the most romantic places in Korea. There are few most romantic places in Korea. This is one of the few most romantic places in Korea. (Compare One of the few romantic places in Korea!)
It makes sense, but it’s very awkward. We expect the most to be either one or few at most. Having many mosts defeats the purpose of them being most.
A Google search shows one of the few most:
stable currencies, important ways, talented and complete musician [sic], natural sites, beautiful Islamic prayer quotes, prestigious museums
In most cases, either few or most would suffice, few if you want to imply a smaller number (one of the few stable currencies) and most if you don’t (one of the most important ways).
One of the few most important musician is plain wrong. Few must be followed by a plural noun.
Do you think it’s lost in translation?
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I pondered whether it was written in Korean then translated or written in English by a Korean (or in English by an English speaker), with no firm conclusions.
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The equivalent page in Korean says 서을에서 가장 높은 or ‘highest in Seoul’, which is very different.
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It could be a different sense of “most”, as in “This is a most romantic place.” But that usage would never occur in the plural.
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If you came to my house once, you could say “I’ve had a most wonderful evening”. If you came to my house multiple times, would you say “I’ve had most wonderful evenings”?
(I’m reminded of someone who might have been Groucho Marx, who said “I’ve had a wonderful evening but this wasn’t it”.)
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