[scarface74]

People who think Linq is "less unique" think of Linq as just pretty syntax to work with collections.

No other language that I'm aware of has duplicated the fundamental power of Linq -- expression trees.

Expression trees allow you to express your query logic in Linq and let a provider at runtime translate that expression tree to SQL, MongoQuery, REST calls, etc.

[WorldMaker]

Well, C# LINQ inherits laterally from F# which pulls it from a long tradition of ML languages, which in turn inherits it from granddaddy Lisp and it's OG code-is-data-is-code principle.

I agree that most people that think of LINQ as "just another set of collection functions" miss the "code-as-data" bit that can make it truly shine, but .NET isn't the only place that can be found. The most unique thing about it is that C# was the first ALGOL descendant deigning to add some modest code-as-data chunks to its compiler. ;)