Haven’t Mentioned This in a While

Redundancy is when you unnecessarily repeat yourself. Conciseness is when you’re not redundant. (Terseness is when you take out too many words) Good writing is concise. No unnecessary words. This applies especially to expository writing. If you’re writing a love letter or a poem, it’s okay to not be concise. But when you want to explain something, be concise.

Here’s an example of not being concise:

The [watch and clock] tax was repealed after a campaign by the Clockmakers’ Company, and promptly replaced by Income Tax, which U.K. citizens still pay to this day.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-clockmakers-museum

You could write, “…which U.K. citizens still pay” or you could write, “which U.K. citizens pay to this day.” Both have exactly the same meaning, and each way of writing concisely has more punch than the original.

So write punchily!

PS—here’s a picture of a timepiece designed to minimize that tax.

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Even I do this! Well, sometimes. In spoken language. I don’t recommend it in expository writing, though. 

It’s in the last panel. Do you see it?

Yup; “tiny little.” You need only one of those words.

I haven’t mentioned fluff in writing for a while. Fluff is one or more unnecessary words in what you (or someone) writes. You can also call this redundancy in writing. I hear people say “tiny little” a lot, as if it were one word. Here’s something similar:

Meteors are tiny dust-size particles of rock and metal that Earth passes through as it orbits the Sun.

http://www.astronomy.com/magazine/observing/2018/08/party-with-the-perseids

Take out “tiny”! Or take out “dust-size.”

If I may also wax astronomical, I shall add that the sentence describes particles that are too small. I don’t think a dust particle has enough molecules to create a flash of light bright enough to make a streak seen over a large area dozens of miles away.

A quickie today. Some acronyms turn into words, so be careful!

PIN is (or was) an acronym. Personal Identification Number. That means “PIN number” is redundant! All Mrs. Lockhorn needs is “PIN.”

My pet peeve for today, class, it the phrase “glossary of terms.”

A glossary is always of terms, so adding “of terms” is unnecessary (read “redundant”). You may, however, use “terms” if you include a limiting adjective. You might say “glossary of unnecessary terms,” for instance.

I like the strip Pajama Diaries. Once a month, though, Terri Libenson makes me cringe with her once-a-month series of that title. Here’s the latest:

If you care to see the whole series, here’s a link to them all. I think.

And “glossary” all by itself is just fine. Harrumpf.

PS: Did you notice that I repeated myself in that sentence just ahead of the comic? I don’t normally do that (it’s redundant), but it was a good chance to use the phrase “once a month” both as a compound adjective, and not.