You only have one health, so look after yourself

[Joern Matthias]

Hi everybody,

I hope that all of you are fine.

Here is my query:

'You only have one health, so look after yourself.'

What strikes me in this sentence is that the word 'health' is preceded by 'one'.
'health' is an uncountable word, which normally cannot be modified by numbers
such as one or two. Why is this possible here? Is this due to the word 'only' or because
the whole sentence is a common phrase or expression?

Could I respond, 'Don't you worry. I have two healths.', meaning more than one health,
which sounds even more strange to my ears.

Greetings from Germany,
Joern

 

[emsr2d2]

Hi everybody, Unnecessary

I hope that all of you are fine. Unnecessary

Here is my query:

'You only have one health, so look after yourself.'

What strikes me in this sentence is that the word 'health' is preceded by 'one'. 'Health' is an uncountable word, which normally cannot be modified by numbers such as one or two. Why is this possible here? Is this due to the word 'only' or because the whole sentence is a common phrase or expression?

Could I respond no comma here with 'Don't you worry. I have two healths no full stop here', meaning more than one health, which sounds even more strange to my ears?

Greetings from Germany, Unnecessary
Joern Unnecessary

Please note my corrections and comments above. There's no need for greetings, to ask after our health or for any closing comments. Keep posts short and to the point. Make sure the text stretches all the way across the text box.

No, you can't say that in response. The original, I believe, is meant to be a little humorous. "Health" is uncountable so they're playing with words. It's just another way of saying "Your health is your health so look after it".

 

[jutfrank]

Please tell us where you saw or heard this sentence.

 

[Joern Matthias]

Here is the link: https://context.reverso.net/übersetzung/deutsch-englisch/eine+Gesundheit

 

[emsr2d2]

All three of those translations are pretty unnatural in English.

 

[probus]

Reverso.net is a site that offers computer translations from one language to another. The state of AI at present is that machine translations of natural language are very frequently incorrect. That is the case here. I don't know German so I can't be sure what the original was intended to mean or whether it is correct, but using one with an uncountable noun like health is bad English.

 

[jutfrank]

Joern, let me get this quite clear. Are you telling us that you asked AI software to translate a German text into English and then proceeded to ask us about the use of the translated artificial English?

 

[Joern Matthias]

Joern, let me get this quite clear. Are you telling us that you asked AI software to translate a German text into English and then proceeded to ask us about the use of the translated artificial English?

No, I came across it and it seemed so strange. This is why I asked for your advice.

 

[Joern Matthias]

Reverso.net is a site that offers computer translations from one language to another. The state of AI at present is that machine translations of natural language are very frequently incorrect. That is the case here. I don't know German so I can't be sure what the original was intended to mean or whether it is correct, but using one with an uncountable noun like health is bad English.

I thought as much but I was quite confused.

 

[emsr2d2]

Well, it appears that the German word for "health" is countable. That website clearly hasn't been programmed to know that it's uncountable in English.

I don't understand what you mean by "I came across it". Didn't you go to the Reverso website and put "eine Gesundheit" in the search box?

 

[Joern Matthias]

No, I happened to spot this strange sentence while googling.

 

[emsr2d2]

No, I happened to spot this strange sentence while googling.

OK. Next time you note down a sentence planning to ask us about it, please make sure you note the actual source.