[Max Goodman]

The "Sahara Desert" probably does sound redundant to those who speak the language in which "sahara" means desert. I have enough Spanish to be annoyed by "The Rio Grande River."

**

This one is an error rather than a sloppy usage that's gained acceptance, but it's a common enough error (in my students' essays, for instance) and for years (until a building renovation apparently included the phone system) was on the outgoing phone message of the local library:

If you know the extension of the person for whom you wish to leave a message for...