Redundancy - does this bother anyone besides me?

Examples with acronyms: Please RSVP; PIN number; IRA account.
Examples with foreign phrases: the El Camino; the hoi polloi.
Subtle examples: cold temperature; whether or not; and/or.

Some bother me more than others...

Please RSVP really gets to me, probably because of my French studies in college...

IRA account...ugh!

I've heard very highly educated folks say "the hoi polloi"...I know its wrong, though!

What's the problem with and/or?

You forgot ATM machine!

:hi:

I had to think about that a bit, too, before I got it.

:hi:

I hear "ATM machine" all the time. It bugs me.

Why can't we be like the Brits and call it a 'ole in the wall? In Germany it's a Geldautomat. I forget what the French call it. Only in America is it an acronym.

the initials form a word, or something that can be said as a word, such as NASA.

:hi:

but most people now use 'acronym' in a broader sense, i.e., including initialisms. See, e.g., the Human Genome Acronym List:
http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/acronym.shtml

And I make fun of him for it every single time. Yet he still does it. :)

How can I repeat it again if I haven't repeated it before? ;-)

I know, there are no tuna reptiles or tuna birds.

if I told them I drive El Camino.

:silly:

Your point is well taken.

On the other hand, people would look at me funny if I said I was driving on the El Camino Real to get to the El Camino College. It all depends on context.

Y'notice there's no "The" on the signs. Or in traffic reports.

translates to "The The Tar Tar Pits"

To remove all redundancy, you would have to say 'the brea pits' (not 'La Brea pits'). But that won't do, because the name comes from 'Rancho La Brea'.

Probably contained in every medical report ever written, the paragraph: "Past medical history." If not in the past, then when? Why not just "medical history"?

If so, he probably would fail the spelling exam.;-)

from the other primary aspect of the H&P (history and physical): the HPI, or "history of the present illness"

http://www.wordexplorations.info/pleonasm.html

samples:
* ABM missile (Anti Ballistic Missile missile)
* ABS system (Anti-lock Braking System system)
* absolutely essential
* absolutely necessary
* a cappella choral singing without any musical-instrumental accompaniment
* AC current (Alternating Current current)
* ACT test (American College Test test), a college-entrance examination.
* active weather —From a Canadian contributor.
* advance forward
* advance scouting *
* advance warning
* affirmative yes
* affluent rich *
* aid and abet
* alternative choice
* A known carcinogen suspected of causing cancer
As seen in a report on WHIO Television following a 1986 train wreck in Ohio. The wreck spilled thousands of gallons of Xylene, a known carcinogen.
* A.M. in the morning
* AMOCO Oil Co. (AMerican Oil Company Oil Company)
* an anachronism in his own time *
* and etc.
* anonymous stranger
* APL programing language (A Processing Language programing language, or sometimes, Array Processing Language programing language)
* armed assault and holdup *
* ascend up
* ATM machine (Automated Teller Machine machine)
* attach together
* at this point in time <“At this time” or “At this point” is more than adequate and is preferable!> —From a Canadian contributor.
* autobiography of my life
* automatic ATM machine (automatic Automated Teller Machine machine)
* bad evil
* BASIC code (Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code code)
* basic fundamentals
* beautiful vista to look out upon *
* blood hemorrhage
* boat marina *
* boiling hot
* both football teams were deadlocked at halftime *
* breaking and entering “Even the opening of a closed and unlocked door or window is sufficient to constitute a ‘breaking’ within terms of statute, so long as it is done with a burglarious intent.” —Black’s Law Dictionary
* buried and suffocated to death *
* CAD design (Computer-Aided Design design)
* cash money
* CAUTION
WATER ON ROAD
DURING
RAIN
(Seen on a highway sign)

* CD disks
* cease and desist
* circulated around
* classic tradition
* classify into groups
* climb up
* close proximity
* close scrutiny
* CNN news network (Cable News Network news network)
* co-equal partners *
* cold frost
* cold ice
* collaborate together
* combined together
* commuting back and forth
* completely annihilated
* completely blind
* completely deaf
* completely destroyed
* completely empty
* completely expired
* completely filled
* completely full
* completely throughly
* completely unanimous
* component parts
* connect up together
* conniption fit
* consecutive extra points in a row *
* constant nagging
* continuing on
* couture fashion
* current incumbent *
* dark night
* DC current (Direct Current current)
* dead corpse
* definite decision
* Department of Redundancy Department
* descend down
* diametrically opposed
* different variation *
* DMZ zone (Demilitarized Zone zone)
* doctorate degree
* DOS operating system (Disk Operating System operating system)
* downward descent
* each and every
* each per capita *
* elevate upward
* eliminate altogether
* empty hole
* empty space
* EMS Service (Emergency Medical Service Service). Contribution from Stephanie, of Manalapan, Florida; the wife of an ER doctor who explains: “Local EMS Service: This term refers to the regional network of police, fire, paramedic and hospital emergency department personnel who together function as a community’s 911 response team.”
* end result
* entirely eliminating
* essential necessity
* exact replica
* exact same
* exactly the same
* existing condition
* experiment someone was just trying out *
* extra added features
* extreme hazard
* fall down
* favorable approval *
* federal deficit
* fellow colleague
* final end
* final showdown *
* first conceived *
* following below
* forced compulsion
* foreign imports
* former graduate (of an educational institution) *
* former veteran *
* forward planning
* founder and sink
* frank candor *
* free gift
* free gratis
* freezing cold
* full satisfaction
* frozen ice
* frozen tundra
* general consensus of opinion
* give and bequeath
* GMAT time (Greenwich Mean Astronomical Time time)
* GMT time (Greenwich Mean Time time)
* good benefit
* good luck
* good success *
* government deficit
* grand total
* grateful thanks
* growing greater
* half a dozen of one and six of another
* handwritten manuscript
* hard rock (as in Hard Rock Cafe?)
* have and hold
* hear with one’s own ears
* HIV virus (Human Immunodeficiency Virus virus)
* hot fire
* hot water heater
* ice cold
* I got through a number of things in the area of defense, like showing the importance of cruise missiles and getting them more accurate so that we can have precise precision.
—Senator Dan Quayle referring to his legislative accomplishments.
(As seen in The NY Times 8/26/88)
* imminent at any moment *
* individual person
* indulgent patience
* inquisitive busybody
* intentional planning
* invited guests
* “...it was never our intent to intentionally exclude...” (heard on the radio)
* irregardless *
* ISBN number (Intenational Standard Book Number number, found inside and on the covers of registered books.
* ISDN network (Integrated Services Digital Network network), a digital telephone network that can transmit both voice and data messages.
* join together
* joint collaboration
* joint cooperation
* killed dead
* knowledgeable experts
* large supermarket
* last will and testament
* LCD display (Liquid-Crystal Display display)
* LED diode (Light-Emitting Diode diode)
* lesbian women or lesbian woman
* literate-English teachers
* literate readers
* little animalcules
* little baby
* live witness
* living legend in his own time *
* long-chronic illness
* long litany
* lots of ample parking (Advertisement heard on a radio: "Come on down! We have lots of ample parking!"
* major breakthrough
* malignant cancer
* manually by hand
* many frequent
* marital spouse
* may possibly
* meandering back and forth and all around *
* mental thought
* merge together
* mesa table
* missing gaps *
* mutual cooperation
* microdot
* modern colleges of today
* Mount Fujiyama (Mount Mountain)
* more easier
* more than unique--it’s practically one of a kind *
* mutual confidence *
* NATO organization (North Atlantic Treaty Organization organization)
* near proximity
* necessary essentials
* negative misfortune
* negative no
* never, ever
* new discovery *
* new innovations *
* new neophyte
* new recruit
* nocturnal-night vampires
* nomenclature terms
* nonreading illiterates
* normal, everyday
* nostalgia for the past *
* not sufficient enough *
* null and void
* obsolete thing of the past *
* old adage
* old customs
* old senior citizens
* only unique (person, place, or thing)
* oral conversation *
* original founder
* original source
* over again
* overdone this a little too much *
* overused cliche
* outside in the yard
* pair of twins *
* past experience
* past history
* past tradition *
* PC Computer (Personal Computer Computer)
* perfectly clear
* perfectly legitimate
* persistent obsession
* personal friend
* personal friendship
* personal individual
* PIN number (Private Identification Number number)
* pizza pie
* plane flying aloft in the air above *
* play actor
* please RSVP (please Repondez S’il Vous Plait: is French for “please respond if you please” or please please respond)
* P.M. in the evening
* poisonous venoms
* polar opposites
* positive yes
* postponed until later
* potentially capable *
* pre planning
* present incumbent
* previously listed above
* prior planning
* pruned out
* quite unique
* rags and tatters
* real actual
* recently new
* receded back *
* re-continuation *
* redundancies, tautologies, and pleonasms
* redundant redundancies
* redundant repetitions
* refer back
* regular routine
* religious holiday
* repeat again
* repeated redundancies
* repetitious redundancies
* rest and relaxation
* resulting effects
* retreating back
* return back
* revert back
* rice paddy
* Rio Grande River (River Big River)
* rise up
* root cause
* round circle
* round wheels
* ruling junta *
* safe haven (donated by Frances in Australia)
* safe sanctuary *
* safe sanctuary *
* Sahara desert (Sahara is Arabic for “desert”)
* SAT test (Scholastic Aptitude Test test)
* SCSI Interface (Small Computer Systems Interface Interface), a specification for a high-speed computer interface used to connect peripheral devices to a computer.
* see with one’s own eyes
* seedling plant
* serious danger
* sharp point
* shape and form
* sin taxes
* sink down
* situation is calm and quiet (heard on CNN regarding the Congo)
* small speck
* soup du jour of the day
* specific examples
* stellar astronomers
* string together
* staged scenario
* successful achievement
* sudden impulse
* suffered poorly *
* surrounded on all sides *
* sum total
* Table Mesa (Table Table)
* technical jargon
* temporary reprieve
* the hoi polloi (hoi means “the”)
* The La Brea Tar Pits (The The Tar Tar Pits)
* tiny speck
* top priority
* total chaos
* total destruction
* totally blind
* totally deaf
* totally demolished
* totally empty
* totally full
* totally unnecessary
* true facts
* tuna fish
* 12 o’clock midnight (or 12 midnight)
* 12 o’clock noon (or 12 noon)
* two-man tandem *
* two-person tandem *
* ultimate goal
* undergraduate student
* unexpected emergency
* unexpected surprise
* unhealthy sickness
* unique: totally unique; completely unique, very unique, most unique (unique is unique and any other modifier is totally unnecessary)!
* university college students
* unmarried bachelor
* unmarried old maid
* unnecessary redundancies *
* unsolved mystery
* usual custom
* useless and unnecessary
* vacillating back and forth *
* VIN number (Vehicle Identification Number number)
* visible with your own eyes *
* Vista View (View View)
* wall mural
* watching and observing
* water hydrant
* wet water
* widow woman
* widow of the late (Whoever) *
* widower man
* will and testament
* with au jus
* wordy and verbose
* working mother
* world-wide-pandemic disease (heard on CNN from “health expert”)
* youthful teenagers

That one always grates on me.

everybody says NIC card

NETWORK INTERFACE CARD

However, I don't get too worked up over redundancies in foreign languages--after all if somebody doesn't speak that language how are they supposed to know?

:rofl:

have you ever heard that one? heh.

:shrug: :shrug:

I'm forming a new organization. It will be called "Wipe out redundancy and get rid of it too."