The word snoop - Ursula Dubosarsky 2009

Tautology
Hmm i wonder what you’re really saying

Watch out for the frozen ice!

You may not know it, but this sentence is something called a tautology. It comes from two Greek words—tautos, which means “same,” and logos,which means “word.”

A tautology is when you repeat something in a sentence when you don’t have to, because the information is already there.

In that first sentence, ice is always frozen (otherwise it wouldn’t be ice), so there is no need to describe it as frozen. You can just say: “Watch out for the ice!” In the same way, if you say that someone is a famous celebrity, it’s a tautology because a celebrity has to be famous, otherwise they’re not a celebrity. (Well, that’s the idea, anyway . . .)

Tautologies are far more often said out loud than written down. Your brain takes a bit more time when it’s writing, and usually you realize the problem and fix it up. But when you’re talking, words come out very rapidly, before you can think too much. People who have to speak a lot in public, like sports commentators and politicians, come up with the most tautologies. Like the ones on the next page.

“If we don’t succeed, then we will fail.” (Aha!)

“He’s on the final lap, which is the last one.”

(Good to know.)

“The plan was to rob the banks illegally.”

(The things people do . . .)

“The person who wrote this book must be some

kind of author.” (Some kind of what?)

The Australian playwright Alexander Buzo collected these sorts of funny tautologies and published whole books of them. Tautologies like this are sometimes known as “Yogiisms,” after the baseball player and sports commentator Yogi Berra. He’s the one credited with the phrase “It ain’t over till it’s over.” (Yeah, but, like, when is it over?)

There are some expressions or names we use that are actually tautologies but we don’t realize it. This happens particularly if other languages are involved. The name of the country East Timor, for example, means “East East” because timur in Indonesian means “east.” In the supermarket you might see Chai Tea for sale—in Hindi chai already means “tea.” (Would you like a nice cup of tea tea?) The same thing can happen with acronyms, when words are shortened to their initials and we forget what the initials stood for in the first place. ATM machine is a tautology, because ATM stands for “Automatic Teller Machine.” (Automatic Teller Machine machine?) And why is PIN number a tautology?

As far back as the sixteenth century, grammar books have said that tautologies are a kind of mistake. But actually, they’re not always mistakes—sometimes writers may be using them deliberately on purpose (ha!), to make you pay more attention, or make you laugh or think. William Shakespeare, who many people think was the greatest writer the world has ever known, wrote this famous tautology in his play Julius Caesar—“this was the most unkindest cut of all.”

You’ll see plenty of deliberate tautologies in advertising, where they want to make sure you really get the message. Here are just a few the Word Snoop has spotted on her travels:

Free gift

Open every day, including Sunday

Bargain Basement Downstairs

(Gosh, thanks for telling me, I might have headed upstairs . . .)

On the next page is a telephone conversation between two friends that contains quite a few tautologies. I wonder if you can spot them . . .

“Have you heard? The Word Snoop has

written her own autobiography.”

“Is that really true? What an unexpected

surprise!”

“Oh well, I suppose she’s just following her

natural instinct.”

“Can you repeat that again? I didn’t hear

the inaudible part.”

“Sorry, must go. Look at the time! It’s

already five p.m. in the afternoon.”

“Okay, bye. See you when I see you!”

How is it going, Word Snoops? Ready to tackle another code? (Hint: It will help to know what an acronym is.)

Lazy Insects Carefully

Eat Nutty Sausages

Every Day

Answers

DOUBLESPEAK

1. An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

2. Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.