Sunday, February 8, 2004

Redundancy Patrol

I’ve railed against “future plans” already. I heard a horrid one on TV the other day: “past history.”

Again, I am forced to ask, “Is there any other kind of history?”

If the reporter was a fan of science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein, perhaps she was thinking of his “Future History” series. I doubt that’s the case, however.

Such slips can be excused in speech. We tend restate our main points until our listeners agree or hit us with a blunt object.

Let’s keep them out of writing.