Non-motoring > Tautology Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Armel Coussine Replies: 35

 Tautology - Armel Coussine
'Unnecessary repetition' is the shortest definition.

It's a regular occurrence on TV. I noticed three tonight in one programme.

Onanisti, no?
 Tautology - No FM2R
>> 'Unnecessary repetition' is the shortest definition.

'Repetition' is shorter.
 Tautology - Cliff Pope
>> 'Unnecessary repetition'
>>

As in "embarrassing, embarrassing, embarrassing, embarrassing, ..........."
 Tautology - R.P.
Trend in ITV programmes is to endlessly re-cap. We have the attention span of Americans people...
 Tautology - Focusless
>> Trend in ITV programmes is to endlessly re-cap. We have the attention span of Americans
>> people...

...whose programmes are interrupted every 5* mins by adverts; that's partly the reason for all the recaps.

* well pretty frequently anyway, more than here
 Tautology - Slidingpillar
There is now an idiot tendency for BBC programmes to do the same. Keep several stories going throughout the programme instead of doing one to completeness and starting on the next.

The commercial reason is to make sure folk don't turn off at the commercials, but the BBC reason is either misguided commercial imitation, or the 'need' to make a programme in saleable form to a commercial broadcaster.

Tautology though is repetition in a sentence, ie referring to a DVD disc (DVD=Digital Versatile Disc).
Last edited by: Slidingpillar on Thu 15 Oct 15 at 10:47
 Tautology - Alanovich
>> Tautology though is repetition in a sentence, ie referring to a DVD disc (DVD=Digital Versatile
>> Disc).
>>

See also: PIN number.
 Tautology - bathtub tom
PIN number is my pet hate. Whenever I'm asked for it I reply do you mean "PIN identification number?"
 Tautology - sooty123
>> PIN number is my pet hate. Whenever I'm asked for it I reply do you
>> mean "PIN identification number?"
>>

I'll bet they're well impressed and correct the error of their ways eh? ;-)
 Tautology - CGNorwich
>> >> PIN number is my pet hate. Whenever I'm asked for it I reply do
>> you
>> >> mean "PIN identification number?"
>> >>
>>
>> I'll bet they're well impressed and correct the error of their ways eh? ;-)
>>

and they just point out that it actually means Personal Identification Number
 Tautology - Alanovich
>> PIN number is my pet hate. Whenever I'm asked for it I reply do you
>> mean "PIN identification number?"
>>

What? Personal Identification Number Identification Number?

I think we're outwith the bounds of tautology there and in to the realm of gibberish.
 Tautology - CGNorwich
do you
>> mean "PIN identification number?"

should be:
do you mean "Personal Identification Number"


Gosh, its hard work at times. ;-)
 Tautology - BiggerBadderDave
Last and final call for flight XYZ.

Yes, I hate and detest tautologies too, also and as well.
 Tautology - CGNorwich
"Last and final is not tautologous". Both words have different meanings. "Last" is however unnecessary as by definition every call made is the last call but not of course always the final call.

 Tautology - Cliff Pope
>> "Last and final is not tautologous". Both words have different meanings. "Last" is however unnecessary
>> as by definition every call made is the last call but not of course always
>> the final call.

You obviously must be too young to remember the days of proper railway dining cars, and the uniformed steward who made his way down the corridor putting his head into every compartment to say "Last call for lunch".

You might have ignored his "First call for lunch", but last meant last. You would have gone hungry waiting in vain for the final call.
 Tautology - No FM2R
>>You obviously must be too young to remember the days of proper railway dining cars

However, I well remember the rush as the words "LAST ORDERS PLEASE!!!!" were bellowed across the bar.
 Tautology - Bromptonaut
>> However, I well remember the rush as the words "LAST ORDERS PLEASE!!!!"

Followed by "TIME GENTLEMEN PLEASE" and after a further ten minutes stools being placed on tables, glasses unattended for a moment being seized etc.


Mrs B and I both have memories of The Crown in Harrow where after 22:45 or so 'aven't you got homes to go to' was part of the Landlord's closing time spiel.
 Tautology - Duncan
>> Mrs B and I both have memories of The Crown in Harrow where after 22:45
>> or so 'aven't you got homes to go to' was part of the Landlord's closing
>> time spiel.
>>

I have a 'fond' memory of my local in Ascot in the late 60s and early 70s where 'I've got your money, why don't you go home', was the cheery refrain.

Sunday night when closing was at 10p.m. was tense.
 Tautology - CGNorwich
I can't be responsible for the fact that dining car attendants and bartenders didn't go to Grammar school.

l
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Thu 15 Oct 15 at 12:47
 Tautology - Cliff Pope
>> I can't be responsible for the fact that dining car attendants and bartenders didn't go
>> to Grammar school.
>>

Neither did the authors of the Bible, nor Leonardo da Vinci.
The Last Supper. Or was their a Final Supper too?

Or cricketers - The last man
Remembrance day observers - The Last Post
Last Tango in Paris

And it would be a bit difficult to save the last dance for me, as it has already ended.
 Tautology - WillDeBeest
So the sign I saw years ago in the window of a frumpy-menswear shop in Chichester was both wrong and unhelpful? It read:

SALE - LAST WEEK
 Tautology - neiltoo
>> "Last and final is not tautologous".

and at airports is frequently untrue. often repeated a couple of times until they've located the missing passengers, or offloaded their baggage.
 Tautology - BiggerBadderDave
"Trend in ITV programmes is to endlessly re-cap."

They're all doing it. Everything on Nat Geo and Discovery does it. Wheeler Dealers does it.

I think it's easier and cheaper (and lazier) to add a couple of minutes after every ad-break than edit a full 42 minutes of content every hour. You get programmes that are even worse, they keep repeating things over and over. Science of Stupid with Richard Hammonds do that. Those comedy programmes with video camera clips do it too. Cheap and lazy. Lazy and cheap.
 Tautology - zippy
Last and final call should be replaced with:

We are taking your bags off the plane now Mr and Miss Smith. We know you are in the bar too sloshed to make sense of our announcement, if you don't get to the gate within the next three minutes, we will throw your bags in to the incinerator.

 Tautology - Fursty Ferret
"The next station stop is..." happens to be my pet favourite at the moment.
 Tautology - Manatee
Revert back.

Reiterate (unless it's at least the third time you've said it).

Not tautological, just annoying- "on a daily basis".
 Tautology - Clk Sec
Looking back in retrospect. Heard that a few times, I say, heard that a few times.
 Tautology - Roger.
I, myself..................
 Tautology - Cliff Pope
Repetition for oratorial emphasis isn't tautology.
Surely tautology is needless repetition?
 Tautology - Clk Sec
Slight drift here, but I used to know a chap who would slot 'Albeit' into almost every other sentence. Pronounced it Al-bite, though.
 Tautology - J Bonington Jagworth
I have a (Northern) colleague who uses 'at this moment in time' at every opportunity, including some that I wouldn't have anticipated even being an opportunity, but I fear it's too late to change him. I have a feeling he was a Union man in a former life...

Tangential, but there was a lovely moment on QI last week when Chief Pedant Fry pulled up Matt Lucas for using 'less' instead of 'fewer'. Lucas retorted instantly with a knock-knock joke:
"Who's there?"
"To"
"To who?"
"You mean 'to whom'."
Last edited by: J Bonington Jagworth on Sun 18 Oct 15 at 13:57
 Tautology - J Bonington Jagworth
Personally, I...
Who else would it be?
 Tautology - CGNorwich
"Many tautological (or tautologous) expressions occur in everyday usage. The tautology in some is immediately apparent: all well and good; to all intents and purposes; cool, calm, and collected; free, gratis, and for nothing; ways and means.
In others, it is less obvious, because they contain archaic elements: by hook or by crook; a hue and cry; not a jot or tittle; kith and kin; null and void; part and parcel; rack and ruin; weird and wonderful; without let or hindrance"
 Tautology - No FM2R
I think "Personally, I think that..." carries a slightly different meaning to "I think that...." - there seems to me to be an intent to make it much more clearly a private opinion which you do not wish to be inflicted on others.

Much like "a mi me gusto" in Spanish. Sometimes it can lead to clarity or emphasis.

All too often accusations of tautology come from the terminally anal with too little to occupy themselves. Which is also frequently the case with inflicted grammar lessons and corrections.


Last edited by: No FM2R on Sun 18 Oct 15 at 17:34
 Tautology - Bromptonaut
>> I think "Personally, I think that..." carries a slightly different meaning to "I think that...."
>> - there seems to me to be an intent to make it much more clearly
>> a private opinion which you do not wish to be inflicted on others.

It might also mean that what follows could be thought controversial - eg 'Migrants? I'd send them all home'
 Tautology - J Bonington Jagworth
I didn't say I never used it, but it is the subject on the card.. :-)
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