One Good, One Bad List

First panel. This sentence has two lists of adjectives. What’s wrong with the bad one? I speak of grammar, of course.

You’re right (I hope)! The second list is redundant. Both words mean the same thing. The first list has words with (technically) different meanings, so that list is grammatically okay.

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Huh?

• Redundancy is when you repeat something and the repeat is unnecessary. So “return back” is a redundancy. “Back” is redundant because it’s unnecessary; all you need is “return.”
• A Tautology is when you say something twice. It refers to the repetition, not to whether the two (or more) words have an unnecessary word. Yes, the distinction is subtle.

Here’s a good example of a tautology. If you think about it, the two parts say the same thing! (no limit=weren’t restricted)

Of course, the not-obvious tautology is what makes the comic funny.

My experience with small town newspapers tells me that they have a lot of weakness in their proofreading and copy editing departments. Redundancy is a pretty common error.

Redundancy is when you repeat yourself unnecessarily. Here’s today’s example:

In order to provide the building with some tender loving care, Magin enlisted the help of Jackson, Wyoming, business MD Roofing to help tackle some of the work that needed to be put into the house to restore it back to its original state.

“Restore it” is enough. you don’t need “back.”

While I’m being a curmudgeon, I’ll mention that the first two words (“In order”) aren’t necessary, and although the “it” after “restore” is grammatically correct, a noun (the house) is better than a pronoun.

Harrumpf.

Oh. A picture of the place:

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal is a pretty good source of intellectual humor.

Do you see the redundancy?

Well, I think it’s funny. When you have some time, look up “quine.” Or maybe “quine’s paradox.” Willard Van Orman Quine invented a type of self-referential sentence.

First, see the second panel:

It’s not /vick chu als/! I remember my high school English teacher saying it was pronounced /vittles/. Well, I just ran into the word, so I looked it up. Yup, it’s /vittles/!

I may as well add that the king didn’t need to say “old crone.” Crones are already old, so “crone” is sufficient.

Now I’m in the mood for ribs.