header

header

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Pleonasms

The Mister came home for lunch yesterday and we ate
tuna on crackers. I teased him for calling it "tuna fish".
Turns out that this is a pleonasm ~ a redundant phrase.
After all, tuna IS a fish. We wouldn't say we were
eating "chicken poultry", would we?
Well, that got me thinking about a lot of redundant phrases
that many of us say without realizing it.
Here are a few...maybe you say some of these, too, and
didn't realize it! The redundant or unnecessary
part is in parenthesis.
  1. (free) gift
  2. (suddenly) exploded
  3. in this day (and age)
  4. (new) innovation
  5. (lonely) isolation
  6. (actual) experience
  7. (advance) warning
  8. surrounded (on all sides)
  9. (armed) gunman
  10. each (and every)
  11. (end) result
  12. (null and) void
  13. (past) experience
  14. (regular) routine
  15. (small) speck
  16. (unexpected) surprise

I laughed at 'armed gunman' the most. And I say 'unexpected surprise' and 'each and every' a lot. But I don't say 'tuna fish'. LOL!

33 comments:

  1. love this post, betsy!! armed gunman got to me as well!

    this isn't a pleonasm but my co-workers and i say "I'm a dismal failure" when we make a mistake at work. it's just a fun way to keep things light and airy.

    enjoy your evening. it's wet and windy here in miamisburg!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Too funny! I say tuna fish too and several of the others also.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Heh, heh. I've also heard, "(completely) finished", a lot. And "(over) and done. And I say "albacore"-LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Subby ~ I've heard 'over and out' but never 'over and done'...funny!

    And your new avatar...is that in honor of Halloween? It reminds me of Poltergeist!

    ReplyDelete
  5. And don't all moms say 'each and every'???

    I want each and every piece of clothing into the laundry!

    I want each and every pea eaten off of that plate!

    etc. etc. LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ah, this was fun, I never knew about "Pleonasms".;) I learned something new today.;) I guess they are just used to signify the meaning of the word even more.;)
    xo

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yes, I eat chicken poultry and it is a lot different from KFC chicken. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  8. pleonasm is a new one for me...though i have said them plenty of times.

    ReplyDelete
  9. those are funny -

    but we Southerners do say Tuna Fish and I don't think most of them want to say it any other way.

    this does not fit your definition, but the news is on here and the newscaster just introduced a segment by saying " this is a true story" I thought every report on the news is supposed to be a true story.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I always say "tuna fish"!!! And I think I say all of the others/lol

    ReplyDelete
  11. These are so funny, Betsy. I never thought to think about it (did I just say something redundant?? Stupid???) ;-)

    I love posts like this. Have a great week, Betsy!

    xoxo
    Jane

    ReplyDelete
  12. I always call them superfluous words when my hubby comes up with them. Thanks for that - pleonasm - I'll try to remember it!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Gimme a tuna fish sandwich any day!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Here's a few I always use...

    empty hole
    pair of twins
    personal friend

    Fun post. I love this kind of wordy fun!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I love those. Hahaha. BUT what about chicken Fried Chicken? That one always gets me.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I don;t think this is actually a "pleonasm" but we were always corrected whenever anyone would dare say, "Almost dead!" Either you are or you aren't, right?!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Great post! You know, I've heard people say *tuna fish* my entire life, but never really thought about how redundant that was:)

    ReplyDelete
  18. I've said many of those...

    The Tuna fish reminded me of our daughter when she was 8. We would put the school lunch menu on the refrig. Jill always said she hated fish. One day she looked at the menu and said "Yuck, fish sticks, I hate fish, Make me a tuna sandwich today. To her Tuna was not fish!!!

    What a fun post.... Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  19. Count me in the "Guilty as charged" column!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hi Betsy..

    very unique

    is one that annoys me...

    Happy days

    ReplyDelete
  21. Fun entry. I'm guilty of a lot of those...mostly 'tuna fish'. :)

    ReplyDelete
  22. i'm also guilty of tuna fish...lol. i never thought of how redundant it is until now

    ReplyDelete
  23. Well, I say about 15 of those (without officially counting) including tuna fish!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Now with a little further thought, a man could be armed with something other than a gun, like a knife, so maybe armed gunman isn't always redundant.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Kayren ~ I guess if you say 'gunman' that says it all. If you want to say armed, then just say "armed man" It's the armed and gun together that is redundant.

    You say tuna fish? I think a lot of people do! :)

    ReplyDelete
  26. There is no such thing as a 'free gift'. Usually, -well in my case anyway- if someone gives me a gift they expect something back, usually a BIG favour!

    Didn't Charles Clore (millionaire) once say "There's no such thing as a free dinner!"

    But I digress the statement.

    On the bleach bottles it says; "Kills germs dead!".

    ReplyDelete
  27. Eh? ". .But I digress the statement. ."

    Sorry, I'm getting too old for this game. I meant "But I digress. . .".

    ReplyDelete
  28. Keith ~ kills germs dead...ha-ha! That's a good one! I think I've seen 'Kills bugs dead', too!

    ReplyDelete
  29. One of my favorites is "free publicity" -- as any marketing person knows, publicity is always free. If it's not free, it's an advertisement. :)

    ReplyDelete
  30. The origin of the phrase "tuna fish" is from when food was first canned in America. Canned tuna was a big seller on both coasts, but sat unsold on the shelves in the Midwest and landlocked states, because no one away from the oceans knew what "tuna" was. So the canners started marking the cans "Tuna Fish" to let customers know what was inside. You can tell where people's ancestors settled by whether they say "tuna" or "tuna fish".

    ReplyDelete
  31. Golden West ~ that is very fascinating...I never knew! Thanks for sharing that tidbit of information! :)

    ReplyDelete
  32. Speaking of tuna, Did you read that the main industry in the American Somao Islands was destryed by teh typhoon? It was King of the Sea's processing plant! Who would ahve guessed it.

    ReplyDelete

I'm serving coffee! Stay and chat!
And no awards, please! Your comments are my awards!