[Max Goodman]

Originally Posted by Roger Slater

what precisely is the problem with redundancy?

At the risk of being redundant (both of my last two posts, including this present one, are exactly the same (and, yes, I went out of my way to make that as intentionally redundant as I could possibly make it--on purpose)):

While in many cases there is no problem, being vigilant about redundancy requires us to think about our words; pointing out redundancies encourages (and in some cases might help) others do the same.

[Matt Q]

You can say that again.

[Carolyn Thomas-Coxhead]

In, on or at Cambridge Station yesterday I was invited to sit tight while the two sections of the train were "coupled together".

[Carolyn Thomas-Coxhead]

PS

"in three short weeks..."
"in just two brief months..." grrrrrrr

[Jayne Osborn]

I recently heard "We shared the same taxi" - I'd like to have seen them share a different one.

We all know what people mean, so there's not a lack of communication - only a lack of precision with the language. It doesn't make me cringe the way that seeing something like "Your a really good friend" does!

[Roger Slater]

Jayne, what would you say about a sentence like, "I'm wearing the same shoes I wore yesterday"? If you left out the word "same," it wouldn't change the literal meaning (I don't think), but somehow it doesn't sound redundant. Does it to you?

[Roger Slater]

I was just reading an article by Matt Taibbi on George W. Bush. I thought this apropos:

"It's very important for folks to understand that when there's more trade, there's more commerce" was a classic Bush formulation. "Our nation must come together to unite" was another. One of my favorites was: "I understand that the unrest in the Middle East creates unrest throughout the region."