Well, I guess it’s about time to offer this list of poor but increasingly common word choices, before it grows too large to handle. I’ve been compiling the list for some time now, with most of the contents coming from books I’ve read, though many of these choices can also be heard spoken on television, in movies, and among the general population (though, admittedly, my exposure to them these days is limited due to the nature of my work.)
The use of redundant phrases in both speech and writing seems to have expanded dramatically since my childhood, which I find distressing. I also marvel at the fact that, even as avenues for expression have grown so significantly, eloquence has declined markedly. Thanks to the internet, virtually everyone not only “has a voice,” they also possess the means of expression.
While redundancy in computer systems, cars, and space travel is to be commended, providing back-up in case of failure, in language it becomes tedious in the extreme.
I’ve found two definitions for the type of redundancy found in language: 1) more than is needed, desired, or required, 2) repetition of the same sense in different words. The second definition is the most commonly accepted, but I prefer the first, for it not only defines, it also offers judgment, “more than is needed, desired, or required.”
You see, for me, the use of redundant language is a sign of disrespect for the audience, with the speaker or author believing the audience to be too stupid to catch the meaning without obvious repetition. Of course, it may also be a sign of intellectual laziness on the part of the author or speaker, even a sign that he or she is too stupid to know the difference. It may also be simply that speech has become as trendy as everything else in our culture, and overstating a concept is now seen as cool. Whatever the case may be, I find it sad that the lack of respect for the beauty of our language is being destroyed by laziness, stupidity, and that the lack of style has become a new type
of style.
Chase after – instead of chasing from in front.
Followed behind – rather than following before, I guess.
Refer back to – which is far easier to do than referring to something which has yet to happen.
Follow along – as if you could pursue without accompanying.
Continue on – as if you could proceed without carrying on.
Rise up – rather than ascending down, you see.
Lift up – rather than elevating downward or lowering up.
Descend down – as opposed to descending up, of course.
Past history – because it confuses people when you refer to something yet to come in the past tense.
Past experience –because it’s so difficult to rely on an experience you’ve not yet had.
Returning back – can’t exactly regress forward, now can ya’?
Cooperate together – rather than collaborating while alone.
Combine together – rather than fusing apart, of course.
Add in/Added in – because add just isn’t clear enough.
Subtract out – because “subtract in” is your only other choice.
Shrink down – rather than shrivel into something larger, as most of us tend to do.
Kneel down – instead of kneeling erect.
Enter into – as opposed to entering out of a place.
Gathered together – as if assembling separately were something to worry about.
Do you have any redundantly surplus phrases that you’ve recently read or heard repeatedly reduplicated recurrently? If so, feel free to leave a reply response or comment remark down below at the bottom beneath.
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