DEPARTMENT OF REDUNDANCY DEPARTMENT

posted by James Reel

On three newscasts this morning, I've heard two different people say "small in size." Well, yes ... the concept of size is built into the word "small," so all they need to say is "small." People have a natural tendency, it seems, to inflate every possible element of language. I'm finding this especially tiresome in the print copy that I edit. One writer I work with is particularly fond of stating that something was begun, say, in 1885, and completed "two years later, in 1887." That's redundant. If you've established that the first year is 1885, everybody with basic math skills knows that 1887 is two years later, and it's unnecessary to burden them with both elements. One thing that's really driving me nuts these days is punctuation inflation; many writers I edit use colons when they need semicolons, semicolons when they need commas, commas when they need nothing at all. I suppose people think they seem more serious if they beef up their sentences with as much punctuation and verbiage as possible. To me, they just seem either pompous, or inattentive to the elements of a lean and limber style.