Lionel Mandrake

Lionel Mandrake's Journal

July 30, 2017

Does redundancy constitute bad grammar?

This is a question about style, or prescriptive grammar, not about linguistics.

TV Westerns used to have theme songs. One of them started as follows:

"Wyatt Earp, Wyatt Earp;
Brave, courageous, and bold ..."

Song lyrics are poetry. This example is bad poetry IMHO, because it's so redundant.

Here's a subtler example: when I hear someone say "warm temperature", it bothers me. I'd prefer to hear about "high temperature" or "warm weather". Since "warm" has the idea of temperature built into it, "warm temperature" strikes me as slightly redundant.

Redundancy is a vice in English, but it's a virtue in some other languages. "No sé nada" and "Je ne sais rien" are acceptable, but "I don't know nothing" isn't. As the Germans say: andere Leute, andere Sitten.

July 20, 2017

Doctor Blake rules Oz.

The Doctor Blake Mysteries is an Aussie TV show which I enjoy very much. The first three seasons stream on Netflix. The 4th season won't be released in Region 1 (which includes the USA) until 2018, for reasons I can't fathom. Grrrr.

Profile Information

Gender: Male
Hometown: The Left Coast
Home country: USA
Current location: electrical wires
Member since: Sun Jul 1, 2007, 06:47 PM
Number of posts: 4,076

About Lionel Mandrake

I study, play the piano, play chess and go, and enjoy the company of my wife, children, grandchildren, other relatives, and friends. I am a perennial student at a school where they let me attend classes and use the library for free (because I'm old). My serious reading includes math, science, history, and biography. I enjoy science fiction and mysteries, which my wife and I refer to as "mind rot". And now on to politics. I hated Nixon and Reagan. I think W is a war criminal and was easily the worst president in US history until Trump came along. Trump and Sessions should be tried for having separated small children from their parents, which was a crime against humanity. I will support any candidate who is a "dove". I support "plan B" without prescription for girls of all ages. I support free abortion on demand, without delay, and without the requirement to notify anyone, for all women and girls who want it. I think it's time to repeal the Bush/Trump tax cuts for corporations and the very rich.