Redundancies and Conciseness

Free gift—anyone see a problem with this?

A gift is, by definition, free. What we have here then is a redundancy. And most people I know are addicted to them.

For instance, how much fuller than full is completely full? (Ok, I did have a bartender inform me once that a glass of beer with head on it is full, but a glass full to the top, with no head, was completely full.) 

Have a look at most writing and you will see many redundancies. How often do you see definitely proved instead of simply proved? Isn’t proved definite? (Actually, that rather depends on what you mean by proved, but that’s another entry.) Or real facts—aren’t facts by definition real? Or may probably—may or probably, not both. 

I read an article about monarch butterflies once. Did you know that the butterflies migrate “in a southward direction”? I thought south was a direction. 

I also saw a report once that mentioned “surrounded on all sides.” Isn’t that what surrounded means? If it’s not on all sides, you aren’t surrounded. Inevitably, someone will say, “What about if you have a cliff at your back?” That’s trapped, not surrounded.

A newspaper article once noted that an accident victim was “fatally slain.” Another once referred to the explosion of a “hot water heater.” Why would anyone want to heat hot water? Still another reporter referred to a “quartet of four finalists.” And another mentioned a country where “the per capita annual income is $700 per person.”

I save the emotes /facepalm or /headdesk for these types of redundancies. Is there never a reason to use a redundancy? I have seen them used effectively for emphasis, but why would a writer want to emphasize everything? If you choose to use a redundancy, do so for good reason. Otherwise, I suggest joining the Society to Stamp Out and Abolish Redundancies and Repetitiousness.

Some other examples for amusement and discussion:

• pooled together
• new innovations
• sworn affidavit
• last ultimatum
• join together
• old adage
• cancel out
• conclusive proof
• the smallest possible minimum
• deliberately chosen
• is at this time