No Option, One Option, Two Options

"I have no choice but to do this."

Ever thought about what that means?

You see, a choice is either an option, an alternative that you have, or a possible course of action that you can take. So let's say I put it this way instead: –

"You have no option but to take this course of action."

Hmmm.

So, when people say that they have NO OPTION, it means that they have only one option that's non-negotiable, right? In other words, they have no choice but to go with that one option that has been set before them.

But if I say you have ONE OPTION, it also means that you have no choice but to go with that one predisposed selection, no? Or does it mean that you actually have two choices at hand and the second one is THE option to the choice that would have been your predisposed selection? After all, people do say, "An option (a.k.a ONE OPTION) would be to take the stairs instead of the elevator," don't they? But hey, you now have two choices at hand (elevator or stairs) but it's just considered AN option (singular).

And now, if I were to say you have TWO OPTIONS, that means you have two choices to choose from, no? Which comes back to having a choice between two specified alternatives – elevator or stairs! Or wait, does it mean that now, you have two options to choose from, your original choice aside? For instance, "Your two options would be to take the stairs or climb walls, instead of taking the elevator." But then, that actually leaves you with three options instead of two – taking the stairs, climbing walls or taking the elevator! Goodness! So then what? What's right and what's not?!

*blink blink*


Are you confused yet?


English is a weird language, I tell you. W-E-I-R-D.


*pause*


And I think that I think too much.


*snicker*

Nah, I'm just messin with ya.
The secret's in the sentence structure.
English rocks. Big time. =)