Comments on: Unnecessary Redundancies

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:35:37 +0000

@Roy – You’ve pointed out one of the places where redundancies are indeed desirable. Extra measures taken for safety are, in my book, necessary redundancies!

By: Roy Hooper

Roy Hooper — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 01:17:33 +0000

When I travel by air I am thankful to know that there are redundant systems in place. Redundancies can be a “good thing”. Roy

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:39:57 +0000

@b.j. – What you’ve said is valid, I’m sure. There are quite a few acronyms for which I could not supply all the components.

By: b.j.

b.j. — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:48:55 +0000

I find that it is easy to be redundant when using acronyms, since so many are old or used so much that people don’t even remember what they stand for. (such as please RSVP) I know a lot of people who don’t even know what RSVP stands for — just “make a reservation”?

It’s not redundant, but since I’m on the subject of unknown acronyms, my favorite is golf! You have the PGA, which is known as the Professional Golf Association, but the word GOLF is an acronym in itself. Which makes the WPGA the Women’s Professional Golf Association, or more correctly, the Women’s Professional Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden Association. Ha ha! Talk about messing with political correctness there! If more people really knew what it stood for, would they change the name of golf? Eh, probably not. They’re too busy picking on Christmas right now, I guess.

By: Rob

Rob — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 01:49:14 +0000

@David and several others – I reread what I wrote and cannot find where I said I hated redundancies or where I said they were “bad.” I’m merely pointing out the fact that some expressions are redundant and poking fun at them. Didn’t I preface the list I gave as “my personal favorites”? Some have, indeed, become idiomatic in our language, but that doesn’t change the fact that the expressions contain unnecessary repetitions. I will go on the record as finding some redundancies somewhat irritating and frankly dumb. But as you can see from some of the other comments, some people are really bothered by them.

@Nancy – “Old antique” is a redundancy used often by my dearly departed stepfather … not in reference to me, I might add, and back when I was a “young antique.”

@Laura – I didn’t know your fiancé was a day older than I! Hope his birthday was as happy as mine was. Thanks for the wishes.

@Carol – I never thought about the fact that the expression “chai tea” is a redundancy, but it is!

@Doodie – I’ll bet that’s particularly annoying when you wake up and hear something like that on the 6 a.m. Morning News.

@Heather – Good one about loose change not being money. The thing about the shredder is a puzzlement.

@Tawnja – In some languages that redundancy would not even be possible since you would have to use the same word twice.

@Michael – The ones like “very unique” are the type of redundancies that I know I let slip with the most often frequency.

@Gayle – Believe it or not, he and I have never gone to Sonic together!

@Ann – Not to be a contentious hair-splitter, but can anything truly be a gift if it costs you something, even for P & H? I’ve known of cases where the P & H charges were so high that they had to totally cover the cost of the “gift” also.

“Stand to your feet” is indeed a tad bizarre. But I have been known to sit on my feet.

By: Ann

Ann — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 20:09:49 +0000

“Free gift” is often not a redundancy when you read the fine print. It means that the gift itself is free, but you must pay an exorbitant amount for shipping and handling.

Something that isn’t a redundancy but that always tickles me when I hear it usually in a bj service is: “Please stand to your feet.” I often wonder what the speaker thinks the congregation might do if he didn’t specify “feet.”

By: Gayle

Gayle — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:12:05 +0000

I can’t believe your office mate didn’t take you to Sonic!!

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:39:28 +0000

I think redundancies bother my wife more than they bother me. I know I’ve heard her comment about wedding invitations that have “please RSVP”. I have been guilty of saying things like “very unique”.

Other things bother me more. One that really gets me is when a person prefaces what they’re saying with “honestly” or “to tell you the truth”. That makes me wonder about the veracity of what they had told me up to that point.

Glad your week of birthday is going well. Those restaurants you’re enjoying are some of our favorites as well.

By: Tawnja Schaffner

Tawnja Schaffner — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:20:20 +0000

I think the worst and most used is “each and every.”

By: Heather

Heather — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:00:30 +0000

Recently noted on my credit union’s website: “Turn your loose change into cash!”

Also noted on the same website, the following isn’t redundant, but it made me look twice: “Scan your smile and win a shredder!” I’m not sure I want to know the rationale on that one.

By: Doodie

Doodie — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:46:56 +0000

Here in Clearwater, FL, we have several (believe it or not) newscasters who say, with great regularity, “It happened at four a.m. in the morning” (or whatever time it was). This drives me nuts.

By: Carol 'Ro'

Carol 'Ro' — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 22:08:30 +0000

My favorite redundancy is CHAI TEA!!!!!

By: Laura

Laura — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:52:16 +0000

Happy Birthday (hopefully that could be considered a good redundancy)!! Your birthday is just one day after my fiance’s.

By: Nancy

Nancy — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:56:55 +0000

I think in light of your advancing years that I should add this redundancy: old antique. (Those new antiques are hardly worth a thing.)

By: David

David — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:49:13 +0000

I know I’m going to offend a couple prescriptivists and step on some toes, but I’m not sure that redundancies are always a bad thing. Some of them just have a poetic sound (“widow woman” or “wider woman” and “vacillating back and forth”). Others in the list (e.g. “null and void,” “conniption fit,” and “safe haven”) are just idiomatic expressions. You can hate them, but it’s futile to try to get rid of them.

My linguistic side is winning out over my prescriptivist side in this debate.

Besides as a sys admin, I think redundancy is a great thing.