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Thread: Oddly redundant phrases.

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    Senior Member Kaputnik's Avatar
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    Cool Oddly redundant phrases.

    You know, like the classic examples of "hot water heater" and "tuna fish". Which reminds me, I'll be having some chicken bird for supper tonight.

    This doesn't bother me in the least, and I wouldn't try to correct people who use them, even if I were certain that such usages were actually wrong, which I'm not. I just find them amusing.

    Lately, though, when somebody asks if two objects are "both the same", I haven't been able to resist saying "no, one's the same and the other is different". Just to see if they get the point.

    Well, I think I may have said it twice.
    "If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly."
    G.K. Chesterton

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    FPG Donor ♕ Chrissy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Oddly redundant phrases.

    There is one that always makes me cringe whenever I hear it, although maybe not oddly redundant: "very unique"
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Senior Member VertOlive's Avatar
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    Default Re: Oddly redundant phrases.

    “Armed gunman”...
    "Nolo esse salus sine vobis ...” —St. Augustine

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    Senior Member carlos.q's Avatar
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    Default Re: Oddly redundant phrases.

    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    There is one that always makes me cringe whenever I hear it, although maybe not oddly redundant: "very unique"
    Well, we have all seen ads for fountain pens that are described as "very rare"...

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    Default Re: Oddly redundant phrases.

    naan bread

    chai tea

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    Senior Member grainweevil's Avatar
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    Default Re: Oddly redundant phrases.

    "Near mint"

    Put your pen near a Polo and I'll smile, otherwise... Is not "mint" an absolute like "unique"?
    In the words of Paul Simon, you can call me Al.

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    Senior Member Freddie's Avatar
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    Default Re: Oddly redundant phrases.

    {a}very 'umble person.............was Uriah Heep..............


    Fred
    Jack Sprat could eat no fat; His wife could eat no lean,
    And so betwixt them both, They licked the platter clean...................

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    Senior Member manoeuver's Avatar
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    Default Re: Oddly redundant phrases.

    Ramen Noodles!
    Automated Teller Machine Machine
    Disgraced Former President

    ok that's quite enough

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    Senior Member guyy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Oddly redundant phrases.

    This list brought to you by the good folks at the Department of Redundancy Department.

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    Senior Member INeedAFinancialAdvisor's Avatar
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    Default Re: Oddly redundant phrases.

    Quote Originally Posted by guyy View Post
    This list brought to you by the good folks at the Department of Redundancy Department.
    Used to have this up in our office. Including a picture of a powerbar plugged into itself.

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    Senior Member guyy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Oddly redundant phrases.

    I stole it from Firesign Theater.

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    Default Re: Oddly redundant phrases.

    When I go to the ATM machine, I have to enter my PIN number....

    But the one that gets me is "off of". I took the apple off of the table.

    And "gotten" is creeping across the Atlantic. What's wrong with got?

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    Deb (June 29th, 2020)

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    Default Re: Oddly redundant phrases.

    Quote Originally Posted by RWS View Post
    What's wrong with got?
    Seasons 1-5 were stellar!
    Season 6... meh..
    Season 7 was rushed. Clearly getting ahead of GRRM was bad for the show writers and they lost their way.
    So what's wrong with GOT? I think can be summed up as "rushed, and crappy ending and they had GOTTEN ahead of themselves.."



    I'll see myself out now.
    Last edited by INeedAFinancialAdvisor; June 29th, 2020 at 12:52 AM.

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    Senior Member Johnny_S's Avatar
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    Default Re: Oddly redundant phrases.

    Cannot say that I like the word Got or Gotten but that is just my view on what is bad English.

    How about getting into a car and reversing backwards out of the garage.

    Why use the phrase Mister President or Madam President for that matter?

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    Senior Member Deb's Avatar
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    Default Re: Oddly redundant phrases.

    "Got" does seem like bad English and is easy to substitute - received, obtained and so on. However, it's actually good English, going way back to Old English and earlier. "Gotten" sounds dreadful to British ears but in the 17th century we were all saying it. It has been dropped (and may be in the process of re-adoption) in British English but retained in US English. It's perfectly respectable. Like me. I'm a US export too. And moderately respectable.

    My husband says that his Primary 7 schoolteacher objected to the use of the word "got" and insisted on the use of one of those Latinate substitutions. He was wrong, of course, in rejecting a good old Anglo-Saxon word.
    Regards,
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    My Blog

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    FPG Donor ♕ Chrissy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Oddly redundant phrases.

    I believe the word "gotten" can be used in the phrase "Ill gotten gains"
    Last edited by Chrissy; June 29th, 2020 at 10:17 AM.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Default Re: Oddly redundant phrases.

    I think that I must have gone to the same school as Mr Deb, because I remember being given a paragraph along the lines of

    I got out of bed, got dressed, got downstairs and got my breakfast. Then I got my coat on and got the bus to school.

    We had to find substitutes for the word "got".

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    Senior Member AzJon's Avatar
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    Default Re: Oddly redundant phrases.

    Mass exodus.

    Evening sunset.

    Exact replica.

    Cease and desist.

    If we want to be pedantic about grammar, these are all mostly examples of grammatical tautology not a redundancy. Similar, but different word meanings and roots.

    Tautology is when something is said twice with different words, redundancy is not needed or useful.

    Therefore, "armed gunman" is a tautology where both things are true, but "ATM machine" is a redundant phrase because the word "machine" is used more that necessary.

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    Senior Member guyy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Oddly redundant phrases.

    What is necessary? Sometimes repetition helps.

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    Default Re: Oddly redundant phrases.

    i heard that sometimes repetition helps...
    not sure if it's true...

    :P

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