Now Reading
Superfluous pleonasms

Superfluous pleonasms

Today is a good day because I get to use two of my favorite words in the same post. These words aren’t important in and of themselves; I just like the way they sound. They are pleonasm and superfluous.  I also like onomatopoeia, but that’s fodder for a different post. “Pleonasm” and “superfluous” fall under the redundancy rubric, and they both have a subtly humorous connotation or affect – at least for me. 

 

Here’s my list

 

ATM machine 

absolutely essential

advance warning

attach together

boiling hot

close proximity 

combined together 

completely destroyed 

descend down

end result

exactly the same

exact replica

fall down

attach together

basic fundamentals

foreign imports

free gift

refer back

see with one’s own eyes

sum total

tuna fish

A common pleonasm is from whence. Because whence means from where, this phrase means from from where.

please RSVP (please Repondez S’il Vous Plait: is French for “please respond if you please” or please please respond)

 

View Comments (6)
  • I don’t know about “from whence”, Rob. I regard that as a colloquialism rather than redundant speech. World Wide Words https://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-fro2.htm makes that argument as well and points out the phrases use as far back as the thirteenth century. These days, I’d say that the proper use would be more likely to disrupt your audience’s concentration than the phrase. It depends on the sentence and the setting, but as a rule I use “from whence”, especially when referring to super-villains from heck. 😛

  • Oh well, might as well burn me at the stake. I’m guilty on all counts!!!:) Just give me some ‘advance warning’ before you light the fire! Hugs to you my friend. Just came by to pester you! 🙂 🙂 Robin

© 2019 Issue Magazine Wordpress Theme. All Rights Reserved.

Scroll To Top