Why you should never order a tuna fish burger?
I will say it in my own words.
She ordered a tuna fish burger.
He was cool, calm and collected.
The previous sentences have one thing in common. They all contain pleonasms, meaning that they contain several words that have exactly the same meaning and only bring redundancy:
I will say it in my own words.
She ordered a tuna fish burger.
He was cool, calm and collected.
Whether pleonasms are a rhetorical device or useless repetitions is a matter of taste. Grammarians usually hate them, while authors (including Shakespeare) use them for emphasis.
And finally, from the great George Carlin
“I needed a new beginning, so I decided to pay a social visit to a personal friend with whom I share the same mutual objectives and who is one of the most unique individuals I have ever personally met. The end result was an unexpected surprise. When I reiterated again to her the fact that I needed a fresh start, she said I was exactly right; and, as an added plus, she came up with a final solution that was absolutely perfect.
“Based on her past experience, she felt we needed to join together in a common bond for a combined total of twenty-four hours a day, in order to find some new initiatives. What a novel innovation! And, as an extra bonus, she presented me with the free gift of a tuna fish. Right away I noticed an immediate positive improvement. And although my recovery is not totally complete, the sum total is I feel much better now knowing I am not uniquely alone.”
Let us know how many pleonasms you find in the previous 2 paragraphs!