Last week’s post highlighted a few qualified absolutes such as “most unique” and some silly redundancies like “delete out”. Here are a few more for the record book:
ATM Machine
Trick question, folks. What does the “M” in ATM stand for?
Whether or not vs. whether
The word “whether” implies the “or not”; it’s unnecessary to add “or not”. For example, He asked me whether I would marry him clearly implies that the option of not marrying him was available.
Advance reservations
I’d like reservations to last night’s play, please.
“The reason is because”
Either write “the reason is” or write “because”. Do not write both. For example, The reason is that he woke up too late to get to work on time says the same thing as He was late because he did not get up on time. You would not write, The reason he was late was because he did not get up on time. That would be redundant.
9:00 a.m. in the morning
This is so old, yet people still make the same mistake. Those wee-morning hours seem to pose the greatest challenge, inciting writers to state The police were called at 1:00 a.m. in the morning. Just remember: a.m. is before noon and p.m. is after noon. One minute after midnight is 12:01 am and one minute after noon is 12:01 pm.
Frozen tundra
All tundra is frozen.
Projected forecast
A forecast is a projection.
Estimated guess
A guess is an estimate. An estimate guess would be a guess of a guess.
The whole entire thing
Whole means entire. I can’t believe I ate the whole thing has the same meaning as I can’t believe I ate the entire thing. Writing I can’t believe I ate the whole entire thing is gilding the proverbial lily.
Past history
Accept it: All history is past.
Horrible Tragedy
As opposed to the wonderful tragedy that happened somewhere else
© 2011 Elizabeth Danziger
What other silly redundancies have you noticed? Please email them to me at lizd@worktalk.com.